Türkiye's Avesta Becomes First Two-Time Winner of US Publishing Prize

Avesta Publishing House of Türkiye has won the 2026 International Freedom to Publish Award from the Association of American Publishers.

It is the Istanbul house's second win. No publisher had taken the American prize twice before.

The Association, the trade organisation for United States book publishers, announced the decision on 8 October. The award recognises a publisher based outside the United States who has shown courage and fortitude in defending freedom of expression, as reported by Publishing Perspectives. The Association is led by president and chief executive Maria A. Pallante.

Avesta was founded in Istanbul in 1995 by Abdullah Keskin. Its motto is "In Search of Lost Cultures."

Since then, it has published more than 900 books in multiple languages. Much of the list, meaning its catalogue of titles, is devoted to Kurdish literature and to research on the history and traditions of the Kurdish people.

Freedom to publish, as used for this prize, means the ability to bring books to readers without censorship, prosecution or ban. That ability has been tested.

Between 1997 and 2007, Avesta faced lawsuits in Türkiye's State Security Courts over roughly 20 of its publications. Several titles were banned from sale or circulation. A ban stops a book from being legally printed, distributed or sold.

In 2016, the company's warehouse in Sur, Diyarbakir, was sabotaged. More than 3,000 books were burned or rendered unusable. The bookshop at the site closed.

The restrictions did not stop there. In 2023, Avesta's website was banned following claims of terrorist propaganda. Between 2017 and 2025, local courts banned more than 20 Avesta books.

Avesta first received the American award in 2005. In 2019, it was honoured in the publisher category of the Turkish Publishers Association's Freedom of Thought and Expression Awards.

What makes this stand out is the length of the record. Twenty-one years sit between the two American awards. The intervening decades include court cases, bans, a destroyed warehouse and a blocked website.

For readers picking up an Avesta book in a shop or library, that chain is usually invisible. This prize puts it in view.