“The decision given in the Kobanê Case is not an end, but a new beginning in our true democratic struggle and political freedom movement,” Figen Yüksekdağ has said in response to the verdict of the Kobane trial, delivered on Thursday.
Yüksekdağ, the jailed co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), is one of 108 Kurdish politicians who have been involved with the Kobane trial. In Thursday’s verdict, Yüksekdağ was sentenced to 32 years and 9 months, with Selahattin Demirtaş, the other HDP co-chair, sentenced to a total of 42 years in prison.
“The heavy verdicts given are an attack on the opportunities of the peoples of Turkey for living in co-existence, and an attack on the ideal of a common homeland and a democratic republic,” Yüksekdağ said in her post on social media platform X, affirming that, “We will continue to resist harshly in order to frustrate every move aimed at liquidation operations of democratic politics and the common life and future of our peoples.”
The prosecution relates to the events of 6-8 October 2014, when the city of Kobane in northern Syria was besieged by ISIS forces. The Turkish government was preventing aid from reaching Kobane, and people in Southeast Turkey held demonstrations in solidarity.
Anger spilled onto the streets after the then-prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that “Kobane is about to fall” in a speech. Forty-eight people were killed in the violence that ensued. The majority of those who died were supporters. However, it was the HDP and its supporters that has faced almost a decade of prosecution and repression as a result.
“We existed by resisting. We will win by resisting,” Yüksekdağ concluded.
In more reactions to the verdict, Eren Keskin, prominent human rights lawyer and co-chair of Turkey’s Human Rights Association (İHD), said that the verdicts given were against the law and called them a “vengeful decision”.
“When I spoke to Gültan Kışanak in prison last week”, she said: ‘The indictment was in the hands of MHP [Nationalist Movement Party] Deputy Chairman Semih Yalçın even before we received it. These decisions are the result of the MHP getting the AKP [Justice and Development Party] to do whatever it wants,” Keskin said.
“This is against both international law and Turkey’s own domestic law. This is a vengeful decision… The fact that the highest sentences were given to Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, who are in leadership positions, is the clearest indication of this,” the human rights lawyer added.
Prior to the ruling, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers repeatedly called for the immediate release of Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, citing rulings by the European Court of Human Rights that the politicians’ arrest was devoid of evidence and politically motivated.
A translation of Figen Yüksekdağ full message follows below:
“The decision given in the Kobanê Case is not an end, but a new beginning in our true democratic struggle and political freedom movement. During the eight years we were held hostage, we defended the dignity, freedom and justice of our people, women and workers.
We embraced social conscience, solidarity, and the noble values of great humanity against the murderous, rapist ISIS army and those who control it and who were partners of crime with it. We have been subjected to judicial torture and oppression by those who do not have their share of these values.
The heavy verdicts given are an attack on the opportunities of the peoples of Turkey for living in co-existence, and an attack on the ideal of a common homeland and a democratic republic. We will continue to resist harshly in order to frustrate every move aimed at liquidation operations of democratic politics and the common life and future of our peoples.
We embrace our [path’s] rightfulness, will, confidence. We believe that our people will also embrace these values and walk determinedly on the path of freedom.
Let nobody’s face fall, let nobody’s heart be darkened. So far, they have not been able to break [our will] or make [us] kneel [in front of them]. They could not turn us away from our path, which was fed with heavy costs and suffering. They won’t be able to succeed from now on either. We existed by resisting. We will win by resisting. With regards and greetings.
Figen Yüksekdağ 16 May 2024
