Kurdish writer and poet Yıldız Çakar was detained on Friday at Istanbul Airport. She had traveled from Germany and was planning to continue on to Amed (Diyarbakır) when she was stopped by security forces upon entry into the country.

 

According to the Culture Commission of the Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, the author was first taken to the airport police unit and later brought before the prosecutor’s office. Initially, no information was available regarding the background of the investigation or any possible accusations.

 

Only a few months ago, her bilingual poetry collection “Mohra Reş / Dark Seal” was included in the “Poetry Recommendations 2026.” The selection, published annually in connection with the Leipzig Book Fair, is regarded within the German-speaking literary world as an important guide to contemporary poetry.

 

Yıldız Çakar was born in 1978 in Amed. In addition to several poetry collections, she has published novels and short stories and has also worked as a playwright. Her plays have been staged, among others, at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin as well as in international productions.