The first hearing of the Kobani case has started in Ankara. A total of 108 HDP politicians, including the jailed former HDP co-chairs Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş, will be tried for the deaths that occurred during the Kobani protests, which took place on 6-8 October 2014 in Turkey, mainly in the Kurdish majority east and southeast.
As the hearing began, the court board, citing Covid-19 protocol, did not allow the entrance of all the lawyers who were waiting outside the main hall, Mesopotamia Agency reports.
Upon the “ban” of the court board, the lawyers inside the courtroom demanded the admission of all lawyers.
The board rejected the demand of the lawyers. In response, the lawyers inside the courtroom exited.
“There is no way that you can organise a trial without the lawyers. No one can be tried like this,” said one of the protesting lawyers. “To dismiss the right to a defence is to dismiss the constitution.”
Fourteen jailed HDP politicians, who were expected to make speeches for their defence on the first day of the trial, protested the court board in support of their lawyers.
As the names of the jailed politicians were read by the court board for their defence speeches, jailed HDP politicians Bülent Parmaksız, Alp Altınörs, Günay Kubilay, Nezir Çakan, Mesut Bağçık, Zeki Çelik, Ayşe Yağcı, Bircan Yorulmaz, Dilek Yağlı, Emine Ayna, Emine Beyza Üstün, Pervin Oduncu, Sibel Akdeniz and Ayla Akat Ata, who are attending the trial through a video-conference system called SEGBIS, refused to make a defence.
“I want my lawyers to be present in the courtroom,” said the jailed HDP politician Alp Altınörs, who was connected to the courtroom from prison via the video conference system. “Why do you leave out some of the lawyers of some of the defendants who are being tried in this court? All defendants need their lawyers for their defence,” said Altınörs.
