Turkish court gives jail sentences to several Kurdish politicians in Kobanê case, Demirtaş receives 42 years in total

Duvar English

The Ankara 22nd High Criminal Court on May 16 held the final trial of the Kobanê case. 108 defendants were on trial in the case, 28 of whom were arrested, Ceren Bayar from Duvar reported.

The Kobanê protests took place between Oct. 6 and 8, 2014, and 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 Kobanê, just across the Syrian border. 

The defendants were accused of several crimes, including the murders of 37 people and “disrupting the unity and integrity of the state.” 

The lawyers and defendants left the court room in protest, and the presiding judge read the verdicts without them. 

The court sentenced former HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş to 42 years in prison in total. 20 years of this sentence came from allegedly “helping to distrupt the unity and integrity of the state.” He was sentenced to four years, six months for “incitement to commit a crime”; two years, six months for his speech at the Newroz celebrations on March 21, 2016; one year, six months for “inciting people to disobey the law” in his speech in Diyarbakır on Feb. 29, 2016; two years and 30 months for “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” for a speech, three years for “inciting and provoking an illegal demonstration” at a meeting in Diyarbakır; one year and six months for “opposing” the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations; one year, six months for “praising crime and criminals” in a speech in Şırnak’s Cizre district in 2015, and two years for “propaganda” in a speech he made in Van province. 

Former HDP co-chair Figen Yüksekdağ received 30 years, three months of prison sentence in total. The court reduced the aggravated life sentence given to her to 19 years over “disrupting the unity of the state and the integrity of the country.”

She was sentenced to four years, six months for “incitement” through the press; two years for “participating in illegal meetings and demonstrations”; one year, six months for “making propaganda for a terrorist organization”; one year, six months for a speech she made at Mehmet Tunç's funeral; three months for violating election bans; and one year, six months for a speech she made in Van. 

The court sentenced Mardin co-Mayor Ahmet Türk for 10 years and former Diyarbakır co-Mayor Gültan Kışanak to 12 years for “being a member of an armed terrorist organization.” Considering the duration of Kışanak's detention, Kışanak was released on judicial control. She had been in jail since 2016.

The court acquitted Altan Tan, Ayhan Bilgen, Aysel Tuğluk, Berfin Özgü Köse, Bircan Yorulmaz, Can Memiş, Emine Beyza Üstün, Gülfer Akkaya, Gülser Yıldırım, İbrahim Binici, Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Sibel Akdeniz.

The defendants have the right to appeal the sentences.

Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party co-chair Tülay Hatimoğulları deemed the verdicts “a massacre of law.”

“We Kurds, laborers and the poor will overturn these dirty decisions by standing shoulder to shoulder in solidarity as we always have. We will surely free our friends one day,” she said.

Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Sırrı Süreyya Önder, who was acquitted, said at the Parliament that “What is happening is against the hope of peace and the hope of living together. Unfortunately, despite all our warnings, the AKP did not realize this. This is the preliminary indictment of the AKP's future trial because everything related to the peace process has been criminalized.”

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel said the judicial process was “not legal” during a live Sözcü TV broadcast.

Later on the same day, Gültan Kışanak was released from prison. 

“It's not about winning a case or getting released. It is about creating an environment where this country can solve its problems. Our friends have not been able to regain their freedom. Therefore, we are all in a very bitter situation,” Kışanak said speaking after her release.

“We will continue to fight for peace in this country as much as we can,” Ahmet Türk told Halk TV.