Turkish Police Confiscate Thousands of Books During a Raid of Belge Publishing

It has been reported that the Turkish police have raided the prominent publishing house Belge Publishing in Istanbul and have confiscated over 2,000 books. Belge Publishing was established 40 years ago by the writer-journalist Ragip Zarakolu and his late wife Aysenur Zarakolu, who was a human rights activist known for publishing controversial and critical books.

The raid took place on Sunday and, as KomNews reports, the offices were raided following allegations of ties to the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKPC). This is just one of many times the publisher has been raided by the Turkish police and they claim the company has been selling books without the correct permission.

Many of the books the police confiscated are banned in Turkey and included titles such as Stateless Kurds” and “Decisions more difficult than death”. Mehmet Ali Varis, an employee of the publisher, was detained but later released after questioning. The Turkish government has been criticised for its censorship and blocking certain media from its people such as Wikipedia.