Deniz Tekin
A café owner in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakır is facing up to 7.5 years in prison after announcing that his business would offer services exclusively in Kurdish. Ramazan Şimşek, the operator of Pîne Café in the city’s central Yenişehir district, has been charged with “making terrorist propaganda on multiple occasions.”
Şimşek had declared after Kurdish Language Day on May 15, 2024, that his café would begin offering services solely in Kurdish. The announcement, which drew both threats and online targeting, triggered a criminal investigation by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. He was detained in a police raid on May 29 and released after two days under house arrest. That order remained in place for six months, until it was lifted on Nov. 29, 2024, following an appeal by his lawyer Mehdi Özdemir.
Although prosecutors ultimately dropped an initial charge of “membership in a terrorist organization,” they proceeded with the charge of “making terrorist propaganda,” citing multiple alleged incidents.
According to the indictment accepted by the Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court, 11 anonymous tips were made to Turkey’s emergency line, 112, claiming that propaganda was being conducted at the café and that Kurdish was being made mandatory for service. News reports about the café and Kurdish-language songs shared from its social media accounts were cited as evidence.
Prosecutors also listed as evidence several books and magazines found in Şimşek’s home, along with songs containing the word “Kurdistan” that had been posted on social media. Some of the publications found in his workplace had been subject to prior court orders for confiscation.
In his defense statement given during the investigation, Şimşek denied the accusations. He said the Kurdish-only policy was intended as a form of positive discrimination in favor of the Kurdish language. “My goal was to promote Kurdish positively. We also serve customers who do not speak Kurdish. It would go against business principles to refuse service to customers just because they don’t speak the language,” he said, adding that no one had complained of being denied service for speaking Turkish.
Prosecutors claimed that Şimşek’s initiative was deliberately timed to coincide with Kurdish Language Day, which is seen as significant by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its affiliated groups, including the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK). Turkey considers both organizations to be terrorist groups.
No date has yet been set for Şimşek’s trial.
