No Decision on Release of "KCK" Defendants

The Friday hearing of the KCK trial in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakır did not yield new results. 151 defendants, 104 of whom are detained, are tried before the Diyarbakır 6^th High Criminal Court on the grounds of their alleged affiliation to the Democratic Confederation of Kurdistan (KCK), the urban arm of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

At the hearing on 14 January, the court did not decide on the request for the release of the detained defendants pending trial. Members of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and rights advocators who came to Diyarbakır to observe the trial had expected a "courageous decision" for the Friday hearing. The trial was postponed to 18 January.

The hearing was attended by 100 detained defendants, among them the Mayor of Sur (Diyarbakır), Abdullah Demirbaş, and four un-detained defendants.

The defence lawyers submitted a petition to lift the ban to leave the country that was imposed to Mayor Demirtaş and the Diyarbakır Metropolitan Mayor, Osman Baydemir.

Lawyer Yurttaş: 'We respect Kurdish' - an empty phrase?

Joint attorney for the defence, Sedat Yurttaş, emphasized that it was not the lawyers who should be heard in this case. He criticized that the ones who should be heard were the defendants but that this was obstructed because of their request to present their defence in their mother tongue (Kurdish).

Yurttaş said that the hearing turned into a tragic comedy. "The decision previously taken by the court obstructed the course of the prosecution. Even the courts established as a result of the fascist approach of 12 September [referring to the military coup in 1980] issued permission for a defence in Kurdish. In a few years you will look back and your will take it easy", he argued.

Yurttaş pointed to Friday's headlines that quoted Court President Menderes Yılmaz as saying "We respect Kurdish" and claimed that this should not remain an empty phrase.

Defence lawyer Mesut Beştaş put forward that the court was actually lacking jurisdiction for the defendants. He demanded to return the file to the Diyarbakır Public Chief Prosecution:

"All defendants were fulfilling their duty for the Democratic Society Party (DTP). They had no connections to any other organization after the closure of the DTP by the Constitutional Court, they were said to be focussed. This court cannot try an issue that has not been tried by the high court".

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. (EÖ/BB/VK)