HDP co-chair likens trial into Kobane protests to Leipzig Trial, says 'defendants will try AKP like Dimitrov'

Duvar English

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Mithat Sancar has likened the trials into Kobane protests to the Leipzig Trial, while adding that the defendants will try the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) just like Georgi Dimitrov. 

"Our friends will try the AKP during the hearing on April 25 just like Dimitrov. This trial will collapse and those involved in these incidents, including the government, will be tried," Sancar told reporters on Jan. 10. 

Sancar was referring to the trial into the Kobane protests that took place between Oct. 6 and 8, 2014 and that caused the deaths of dozens. 

Protesters flooded streets in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast at the time, outraged over the Turkish government's inaction in protecting Syrian Kurds as ISIS besieged Kobane, just across the Syrian border. The protests turned deadly, as members of Turkish Hizbullah also took to the streets.

In October last year, dozens of HDP members, including former Kars co-mayor Ayhan Bilgen, were arrested over the protests six years later in what critics say as part of a politically-motivated probe.

The Ankara 22nd Heavy Penal Court on Jan. 7 accepted an indictment into 108 people, including jailed former HDP co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, in connection with the protests.

While Ankara accuses the HDP of inciting violence, the HDP says that it was doing everything it can to prevent bloodshed via being in contact with government officials.

'We also have Dimitrovs'

Sancar on Jan. 10 said that he immediately thought of the Reichstag fire of February 1933 that took place four weeks after Adolf Hitler became the chancellor of Germany. 

"A general election decision was taken. This decision was one of his most significant moves in becoming a dictator. They planned certain plots to silence other parties in this atmosphere. The Reichstag building was burned on the night of Feb. 27 and operations ensued the next day. Hitler and his cadres said that the fire was started by communists and started imposing bans," Sancar said. 

"A trial was launched in Leipzig. It's a historical trial that was carried out over Dimitrov. However, Dimitrov was not the one who was tried. The opposite took place. Dimitrov defended himself in a historical manner and tried the Nazi regime. We can liken the trial into Oct. 6-8 Kobane protests to the Leipzig Trial," he said. 

Stressing that the AKP is responsible for the events that unfolded during the protests, Sancar said, "It's trying to acquit itself by trying us, but will fail." 

"Because we also have Dimitrovs. Our friends will try the AKP," he said.