Turkey bans Kurdish-language film Rojbash from commercial release
The Culture and Tourism Ministry has blocked the theatrical release of Rojbash, a film that tells the story of a group of Kurdish stage actors reuniting after 25 years.
The ministry deemed the film “unsuitable for commercial circulation,” a decision that prompted a legal challenge from the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), which announced that it had filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the ban.
The film premiered at the First Düsseldorf Kurdish Film Festival last April, and was screened at the Berlin Kurdish Film Festival this week.
Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party MP Sinan Çiftyürek submitted a parliamentary question to Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, raising concerns about censorship.
The question asked for clarification on the reasoning behind the ban and whether the film predominantly being in the Kurdish language played a role in the decision.
The MP also requested data on the ministry’s support for Kurdish theater and cinema over the past five years, including the number of Kurdish-language films that have been banned and the reasons for their prohibition.
The MP also asked how many Kurdish-language films or theater productions have been banned by the ministry over the past five years, and what were the reasons for these bans.
