A Turkish woman who shared a Guardian article on social media about a British woman killed fighting with Kurdish forces in Syria has described how she was twice convicted of “sharing terrorist propaganda” in an Istanbul court.
“I am basically just an ordinary citizen, there is no reason why I should attract any special attention. This is the disturbing part,” said Peri Pamir, a 71-year-old retired researcher.
Pamir has been twice convicted on terrorism charges after sharing the 2018 Guardian article about Anna Campbell, who was killed while fighting with Kurdish forces in the besieged city of Afrin.
Campbell was a member of an all-female militia of the People’s Protection Units known as the YPG, a linchpin of the US and UK-backed Syrian Democratic forces battling Islamic State militants in Syria.
In her 2018 Facebook post linking to the article, Pamir called Campbell “a young idealist” and mused on the battle between Islamic State (IS) and Kurdish fighters. “Which ideology do you think will win in the end?” she asked.
A month after posting the article, Pamir received notice from local prosecutors telling her that she was under investigation for the crime of “creating propaganda for a terrorist organisation”. A police report detailed a lengthy investigation of her social media accounts, highlighting her post about Campbell and the Guardian article, and pointing to the YPG emblem pictured on Campbell’s uniform.
Turkey regards the YPG – and other Kurdish militant groups such as the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) – as terrorist organisations. While the UK and US also consider the PKK a terrorist organisation, Washington and London have long provided support to the YPG in Syria in their fight against IS forces.
The investigation into Pamir’s Facebook post was the beginning of an ordeal that is due to last until 2029. In recent years Turkish authorities have accused hundreds of thousands of its citizens of posting social media content constituting “acts of terrorism”, including 132,310 people last year alone, according to the interior ministry.
More than 9,000 were detained on these charges, according to the rights group Freedom House, which said that “sharing pro-Kurdish content online has resulted in criminal penalties”.
Pamir was convicted under anti-terror legislation by an Istanbul court in 2020 of “spreading propaganda for a terrorist organisation” for her Facebook post. She received a suspended 15-month prison sentence with five years of probation.
“I’m not guilty of anything. Surely I can share a Guardian article in full and make commentary. This is part of my right to free expression,” she said.
She described the probationary period as “a sword of Damocles over your head” designed to prevent her from posting freely on social media for five years. The authorities “want you to think you’re being surveilled since their intention is to intimidate and silence you”, she said.
Pamir appealed against the decision, resulting in a lengthy journey to a retrial in the same Istanbul court last week. “I do not think I did anything wrong by sharing my personal ideas,” she told the court, denying that she encouraged “any terrorist act against my country”.
Despite Pamir’s demands for an acquittal, she was dealt the same 15-month suspended sentence by the court, including a further five years of probation.
“So much for asking for a fair hearing, I got the same hearing as before,” she said.
Her probationary period will now last until 2029, and Pamir said she plans to appeal again despite the risk of receiving a third sentence with more probation. “I will fight,” she said.
