A Turkish publisher long targeted over Kurdish culture wins AAP freedom award

NEW YORK (AP) — A Turkish publishing house with a long history of enduring government censorship and harassment over its championing of Kurdish culture is being honored by the Association of American Publishers.

The AAP announced Wednesday that Avesta Publishing House was this year's winner of the trade association's International Freedom to Publish Award, given to a non-U. S. publisher for “courage and fortitude in defending freedom of expression.” Avesta also received the award in 2005.

“AAP first recognized Avesta’s extraordinary contributions a little over 20 years ago and despite continuous threats and intimidation since that time their commitment to publishing has only grown stronger,” AAP President and CEO Maria A. Pallante said in a statement. “We are moved to celebrate Avesta’s brave, decades-long struggle because it underscores an essential fact: the battle for free expression is central to freedom more generally but is never truly won.”

The Kurds are Turkey’s largest ethnic minority and have long battled with the government over self-determination and such rights as broader use of their language in education and public services.

Avesta was founded in 1995 with a mission to draw attention to “lost cultures” and has published hundreds of books in various languages, often centered on the Kurds. It has faced everything from the burning of an Avesta warehouse to the banning of books and a temporary ban of their website, which in 2023 was labeled “terrorist propaganda” by the Turkish government.

“Receiving AAP’s Freedom to Publish Award for the second time provides an enormous boost to our mission of encouraging Kurdish literature, research and culture, casting a bright light that will illuminate our way forward on the long road ahead,” Avesta founder Abdullah Keskin said in a statement.

Previous recipients of the AAP award, established in 2002, include the Venezuela-based Editorial Dahbar and the Hong Kong-based publisher and bookseller Gui Minhai.

Last year, the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party announced it would end its long insurgency and lay down its arms. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has since approved legislation that offers a pardon for thousands of Kurdish militants, conditioned on Turkish authorities verifying they had disarmed and disbanded.

A spokesperson for Avesta said they had yet to see any changes in how the government has acted toward them, but was hopeful for improvement.