The prosecutor of the Kobane trial, in which 108 members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) are in the dock, read his closing statement to an empty courtroom after the politicians on trial and their lawyers left in protest on the third day of the 24th hearing.
During Friday’s hearing, prosecutor Cemalettin Şimşek started summing up the case before the defences were completed and was met with protests from those in the courtroom when he continued despite the arrested politicians expressing their desire to defend themselves.
When the presiding judge said, “Those who do not want to listen can leave,” the politicians, lawyers and those watching the trial left the courtroom with applause, shouts and slogans such as “Jin Jiyan Azadî”, “Shoulder to shoulder against fascism” and “Together we resist, together we win”.
The prosecutor continued to read his 13-chapter final opinion to an empty courtroom.
The prosecutor’s office demanded prison sentences for the politicians on charges of “disrupting the unity of the state and the integrity of the country.” According to the prosecutor’s final opinion, participating in Newroz celebrations, Abdullah Öcalan’s birthday events and protests on the anniversary of Öcalan’s capture were considered crimes.
Another criminal element according to the prosecutor’s final opinion was participation in activities regarding education in the mother tongue. The prosecutor’s office argued that the politicians “talked about the imaginary country they would establish” by saying “Kurdistan”.
The prosecutor’s office considered the Kobane protests as “a rehearsal for rebellion” and also criminalised the visits to Qandil (Qendîl), a mountainous refuge for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on the Iraq-Iran border, which took place with the government’s knowledge during the peace process that started with the aim to resolve the conflict between Turkey and the PKK as part of the long-running Kurdish-Turkish conflict.
The case was brought against the HDP members because they made a call to protest against the siege of Syria’s Kurdish-majority city of Kobane (Kobanê) by the Islamic State (ISIS) and another for solidarity with the people of the Kurdish city.
HDP party members stand accused of initiating the events that took place on 6-7 October 2014 in Turkey’s largest cities and those heavily populated by Kurds, resulting in 46 deaths.
On 20 May 2016, the Turkish National Assembly lifted the parliamentary immunities of the HDP MPs. They were arrested in dawn raids on their homes on 4 November of the same year.
Though the investigation into the protests began in 2014, the indictment was not presented to the court until December 2020, and the trial was started in April 2021.
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office prepared an indictment against the HDP members, citing the HDP’s social media posts, which are claimed to have initiated the process leading to the events now known as the Kobane events.
In the indictment, the prosecutor seeks aggravated life imprisonment 38 times for the defendants on 29 different charges, including “murder”, “looting”, “injuring a public official with a gun”, “burning flags”, and “disruption of the national unity and the integrity of the country”.
