"No Microphone for Defence in Kurdish"

The 17^th hearing of the trial regarding the Democratic Confederation of Kurdistan (KCK) Turkish Assembly was held on Tuesday (18 January). Again, the request for a defence in Kurdish as the mother tongue of the 151 defendants was dismissed. The defendants who attempted to speak in Kurdish were silenced by the court by shutting off the microphones, saying that "the defendants made their defence in a language supposed to be Kurdish".

Defence lawyer Meral Danış Beştaş criticized the rejection of the demand for a defence in Kurdish in an interview with bianet: "There is no prosecution, the court is continuing formally".

"No microphone if you talk in Kurdish"

"Unfortunately, the request for presenting the defence speeches in Kurdish was again rejected today. It was not permitted to speak in Kurdish. They did not provide microphones by arguing, 'There is no microphone if you speak Kurdish'".

"From now onwards, we cannot call this a prosecution any longer. [The defendants] were left by depriving them of the right to a defence", Beştaş indicated.

"The procedures are blocked at this point. A process that is not in line with the rules of procedure cannot be called a prosecution. The court ignores national and international rules of law. The most sacred right to a defence in the mother tongue is being ignored. The politicians use the judiciary to do what they can actually not do. The court has to recognize that right as soon as possible".

"A language that is supposed to be Kurdish"

Diyarbakır Bar Association President Mehmet Emin Aktar argued, "Nothing new came out of the Tuesday hearing. The Court President did not issue permission for a defence in Kurdish, saying that 'the defendants spoke in a language supposed to be Kurdish'". He said that the court's resistance against the Kurdish language was meaningless.

Regarding the possibilities of releases on 28 January, Aktar indicated, "If defendants will be released in the coming hearing, this will be perceived as acquittals because in Turkey everybody thinks of detention as a punishment. It is a difficult issue since the court looks at it that way as well. We are expecting releases at every hearing of course".

21 months behind bars

The group of defendants includes executives of the Human Rights Association (İHD), lawyers, academics, members of non-governmental organizations and unions, executives of local TV stations, and newspaper workers. They are alleged of "disrupting the unity of the state and the territorial integrity", "membership and administration of a terrorist organization" and "assisting and accommodating a terrorist organization".

The lengthy indictment comprises a total of 7,578 pages and seeks prison terms between 15 years and aggravated life sentences for the defendants. A part of the 104 detained defendants have been imprisoned for 21 months. (AS/EÖ/VK)