Kobanî trial | ‘Deniz is us, you will see Deniz when you look at us’

* Drawing: Ercan Altuntaş

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

The seventh session of the third hearing of the Kobanî trial was held at the Ankara 22nd Heavy Penal Court today (June 22).

CLICK - Kobanî trial: Request for recusal rejected

In the trial over the "October 6-8, 2014 Kobanî protests", 108 people have been facing charges: While 24 people, including former Co-Chairs, Central Executive Board members and executives of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), have been arrested pending trial, 10 defendants have been released with judicial control measures and there are warrants against 75 people.

The defendants of the case which is commonly known as the "Kobanî trial" face life sentences aggravated for 38 times.

'ECtHR said it was freedom of expression'

At today's hearing, Çiğdem Pozan, the attorney of arrested politician Ayla Akat Ata, took the floor first. Reminding the court board and the audience that her client's speeches at the Parliament were cited as criminal evidence in the indictment of the Kobanî trial, Pozan underlined that it meant interfering in the legislative immunity and trampling upon voters' will.

Indicating that Akat Ata was both an MP and a member of the İmralı delegation, which went to meet imprisoned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan during the resolution process for the Kurdish question, Pozan said, "As if the resolution process had not taken place, it is mentioned in the indictment as the subject of accusations."

The attorney further stated that the tweet which was posted by the HDP at the time and over which the HDP politicians are now facing charges in the Kobanî trial was within the limits of freedom of expression. She noted that it was concluded by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Referring to the ECtHR judgements, Pozan said that the ECtHR defined the trial as "an attempt to silence the opposition."

Pozan also noted that the statements made by Akat Ata at the time of the resolution process should not be a subject to any legal proceedings as per the law which guaranteed the resolution process.

After Çiğdem Pozan, Atiye Arıkan, another attorney for Ayla Akat Ata, took the floor to make her statement. Recalling that Akat Ata was attacked on her way from Batman to Diyarbakır in the October 6-8, 2014 period and filed a criminal complaint about this attack, the attorney asked the reason why the file of this investigation was not added to the file of the Kobanî trial.

"From this, we understand that we are faced with a fabricated file," attorney Atiye Arıkan indicated further.

'This is a case of solicitation'

Afterwards, former HDP Central Executive Board member, former MP, academic and ecology activist Beyza Üstün, who is also currently arrested pending trial, took the floor to make her statement.

Üstün started her speech by remembering Deniz Poyraz, who was killed in the armed attack that targeted the HDP İzmir office on June 17.

"Deniz was not only a comrade of ours who went there to support her mother's labor. Deniz is us. I remember her with respect for fostering labor and women's politics together with us," said Beyza Üstün.

"We saw that it was an extremely planned, organized attack. The assailant was specially trained and its timing was made to coincide with this case and the other processes initiated along with this case," she added.

"This is a case of solicitation, it is done quite knowingly," Beyza Üstün stated, briefly adding, "This is a case of solicitation filed amid the panic over the breakdown of the dominant system in the face of the HDP and in the face of the quest for freedom proceeding alongside the HDP."

'Everyone is responsible for uncovering the truths'

Further in her statement, Beyza Üstün reminded the court board and the audience that they had been arrested for the past nine months. Üstün noted that "their statements as to the same allegations had been taken before, but they were arrested with a political intervention much later."

"The reason for our arrest is a political intervention, I would like to underline this. Politically, we requested an inquiry into the Kobanî incidents times and times again," said Üstün, noting that "every time they raised such a request, it was rejected by the votes of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP)."

"Uncovering the truths was the responsibility of everyone who lived on this land and wanted an equal and free life," Beyza Üstün said and added that "the politicians who accused them over this process rejected an inquiry into the issue in an extremely ironic manner."

'It has gone so far as closing the HDP'

"Even though they do not have a flight risk, the politicians have been deprived of their freedom for a long time," stated Üstün.

She also referred to the process after the June 7, 2015 elections, after which the AKP could not have the Parliamentary majority, no coalition government could be formed, the country went into months of turmoil, with the conflict in Kurdish-majority cities and bomb attacks in several cities across the country, and another general election was held on November 1, 2015.

Üstün said that "after she was elected an MP on June 7, only four sessions could be held at the Parliament," briefly adding, "With the intervention of November 1, the will of the people was disregarded and repeat elections were held. The system changed step by step. You are a witness to change within your own institution, you are a witness to the change of Turkey. This process was an intervention against the will of the people."

Noting that the attacks of the ISIS were frequently discussed at the meetings of the HDP at the time, Üstün emphasized that the incidents did not erupt following the HDP's tweet. "Nothing had happened until Erdoğan's statement of 'Kobanî is about to fall'," said Üstün and added:

"There is nothing about ISIS in this indictment. It is highly interesting. All these incidents must be taken there. Until the police opened fire on civilians in Muş's Varto district, you could see no deaths. 'It is about to fall' and the first shot made us all panicked. In spite of this, these four organizations made statements of 'Keep calm, don't let yourselves be provoked'."

Üstün noted that "they struggled to protect the peoples in Kobanî, they struggled to protect the peoples who had not been protected in Sinjar."

Referring to the losses of life after October 7, 2014, Üstün said, "We are doing politics so that these deaths will not happen. We are trying to weave the politics of fraternity and standing side by side in this land."

Saying that "there is a systematic attack against the HDP, which brings peoples and different identities together," Üstün recalled that HDP politicians are arrested one by one and trustees are appointed to the people's will. Referring to the Kobanî trial as a "case of intervention", Üstün said that this intervention has gone so far as a closure case against the party.

(AS/SD)