[URBAN NOTE] "Kurdish bookshop turns page on dark past"

[rfmcdonald]

Al Jazeera's Samantha North contributed an interesting article about a Kurdish-language bookstore in Istanbul, Medya Kitabevi, its owner, and their survival of decades of political controversy.

In a narrow, haphazard alley beside Istanbul's busy Istiklal Avenue, hidden behind stalls of fake designer handbags and tourist junk, sits an unassuming little bookshop. Only a few titles are displayed in the window, and the shop's enigmatic name, Medya Kitabevi (Media Bookshop) does not give much away.

Inside, the place is buzzing, shelves piled high with colourful books. Customers flit in and out, stopping to exchange friendly words with the silver-haired shopkeeper, who sits at a book-cluttered desk at the back, talking on his vintage telephone.

These days, business is going well. Owner Selahattin Bulut has sold books for the last 18 years and made Medya Kitabevi - which specialises in a wide spectrum of Kurdish literature - famous among academic and media circles. But once upon a time, being caught here could have meant going to prison. Turkey has for decades been embroiled in conflict with Kurds seeking an independent state, and after Turkey's third military coup in 1980, the state began cracking down on "subversive" political organisations, imprisoning hundreds of thousands of people, including many Kurds.

[. . .]

Bulut's story began in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, during this dark period of modern Turkish history. In 1981, Bulut, a Kurd, was locked away in the notorious Diyarbakir Prison, accused of carrying out operations for the separatist group KUK (Kurdish National Liberators). Conditions in the prison were so barbaric that some claim it encouraged the formation of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Bulut says he endured immense suffering until his release in 1989, although he declines to go into detail. After being released from prison, he decided to help support his fellow Kurds in his own way: promoting Kurdish identity through the written word.