The Kobani (Kobanê) trial, in which 108 members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) are in the dock, 18 of whom are remanded in custody, has no basis in law, and the court is not even aware of the number of people who lost their lives in the incidents under investigation, said lawyer Nuray Özdoğan during the hearing of the high-profile case on Tuesday.
Özdoğan’s comment stems from inconsistencies between the indictment and the prosecution’s summing up regarding the death toll during the 2014 Kobani protests, which form the basis of the case. Özdoğan said that while politicians presented the number as 52, the case file produced different numbers at different times. “You are conducting a trial by objectifying those who lost their lives,” she added.
The lawsuit was brought against the Kurdish politicians because of their call to protest against the Islamic State (ISIS) siege of Kobani (Ayn al-Arab) province in northern Syria and their call for solidarity with the people of Kobani. According to the report of Turkey’s independent Human Rights Association, 46 people died during the Kobani protests in October 2014.
Özdoğan further asked, “We want to know; who is this informant?”, referring to an anonymous complaint that initiated the trial. She expressed outrage at the way the investigation was started, continuing, “Every day something different comes up. Can you really apply a penalty of ‘aggravated life imprisonment’ based solely on phone records?”
The lawyer also criticised the court for treating membership of the HDP as incriminating evidence. “You are trying to make being an HDP member equivalent to being a member of an [illegal] organisation,” she said.
At the same hearing, politician Emine Ayna spoke about the unequal relationship between the prosecution and the defence, pointing to the court’s bias towards the prosecution. She questioned charges relating to demands for freedom for the jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan, as well as calls for mother-tongue education.
“Why are these [calls for mother-tongue education] considered membership in a ‘terrorist’ organisation? Put yourself in our [Kurds’] position a little, asked Ayna, “Or why should democratic autonomy be a crime?”
Background
The ‘Kobani trial’ or ‘Kobani case’ refers to a legal case in Turkey involving members and former members of the HDP, a pro-Kurdish political party in the country. The case is named after the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani, which was the site of a major battle between Kurdish forces and the ISIS in 2014.
The trial centres around the events of 6-8 October 2014, when protests erupted in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast. The demonstrations were in response to the Turkish government’s perceived inaction during the ISIS siege of Kobani. The protesters were demanding that the Turkish government take a more active role in supporting Kurdish fighters in Kobani, or at the very least, that it not block the transit of support convoys.
Following the protests, which turned violent and led to the deaths of numerous people, most of whom were HDP supporters, the Turkish authorities accused the HDP of inciting the violence and started arresting members of the party, including prominent politicians.
Though the investigation into the protests began in 2014, the indictment was not presented until December 2020, and the trial finally started in April 2021. The prosecutor is seeking aggravated life imprisonment 38 times over for the defendants on 29 different charges, including murder, looting, injuring a public official with a firearm, flag-burning, and disruption of the national unity and integrity of the country.
The Kobani trial is seen by many as a politically motivated effort to suppress the HDP and the broader Kurdish political movement in Turkey. Critics argue that the case is part of a crackdown on opposition voices and an attempt to link the HDP to the banned PKK. This is seen as a strategy to pave the way for the eventual dissolution of the party, which is already under threat with a case demanding its closure pending at the country’s Constitutional Court.
