Kobanî trial: Prosecutor demands criminal complaints as defendants, lawyers protest court

Former HDP Deputy Sebahat Tuncel (Drawing: Ercan Altuntaş)

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Summary of the case:

• 108 members of the HDP, including its former co-leaders and MPs, are standing trial for having allegedly organized the deadly 2014 protests in the country's Kurdish-majority regions by orders of the PKK

• Charged with disrupting the integrity of the state, the defendants are facing aggravated life sentences

• HDP attorneys say they don't have access to the case files and are not given time to prepare defense statements

• The country's judicial overseeing body replaced the judge, which means an establishment of a "special court" for this case and is a violation of the Constitution, says the HDP

• The defendants and their attorneys are not attending the hearings in protest of what they call an unfair trial

The third session of the sixth hearing of the Kobanî trial is underway at the Ankara 22nd Heavy Penal Court in the Sincan Prison Complex.

Defendants and their attorneys previously announced that they would no longer attend the hearings in order not to be a part of "an unfair trial."

After reading the documents added to the case file, the presiding judge said the attorneys and defendants submitted excuses for not attending the hearing.

The prosecutor demanded the rejection of excuses apart from those for health reasons, the defendants be provided convenience for making their defenses, and the continuation of the hearing for the defendants who were not present in the courtroom.

The prosecutor also demanded a criminal complaint against the attorneys for misconduct because they did not attend the hearing.

The judicial control measures and the arrest of the defendants should continue, said the prosecutor.

"No trial without lawyers"

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Züleyha Gülüm, who is also a lawyer and a member of the party's Law and Human Rights Commission, told bianet yesterday that the case can't be heard without lawyers in terms of procedures.

"A trial without lawyers cannot be the case. The defense must be present at the hearing. This is a case where lawyers must be present, both legally and in terms of procedure," she said.

"The trial cannot continue in these conditions. The court might have the right to assign a new lawyer, but lawyers have not withdrawn from the case.

"But if the court wants to keep holding a totally unfair trial, as it has been the case so far, it can continue hearing the case without lawyers. But a trial without lawyers will be a trial just for the show of it.

"In terms of procedure, holding the trial without lawyers in a case where the presence of the defense is obligatory will make the entire trial extrajudicial."

Dismissal of the judge

At the hearing on Monday, the court board announced that the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) dismissed Bahtiyar Çolak as the presiding judge of the Ankara 22nd Heavy Penal Court.

Yıldıray Kaya, a member of the court board, replaced Çolak as the presiding judge.

The HSK appointed judge Murat Dönmez as a new member of the court board.

At the second session of the fourth hearing of the case on September 21, Judge Kaya, who temporarily headed the court board, had announced that Çolak could not attend the hearing because he had tested positive for Covid-19.

In the fifth hearing, which started on October 18, Kaya had said Çolak would not attend the hearings for one or two months because of his illness.

The defense attorneys criticized the dismissal of the judge, which they said violated the principle of natural judge and judicial independence.

From the Kobanî indictment

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office prepared an indictment regarding the Kobanî protests that took place on October 6-8, 2014.

108 people, including the arrested former Co-Chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtaş, were among the "suspects".

The indictment seeks the punishment of all suspects on the charges of "disrupting the unity and territorial integrity of the state", "killing for 37 times, "attempted killing for 31 times", "burning the flag" and "violating the Law on Protecting Atatürk."

Prepared by the Terror Crimes Investigation Bureau of the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the indictment was sent to the Ankara 22nd Heavy Penal Court. The court accepted the indictment on January 7, 2021.

The names of all defendants: Figen Yüksekdağ, Sebahat Tuncel, Selahattin Demirtaş, Selma Irmak, Sırrı Süreyya Önder, Gülfer Akkaya, Gülser Yıldırım, Gültan Kışanak, Ahmet Türk, Ali Ürküt, Alp Altınörs, Altan Tan, Ayhan Bilgen, Nazmi Gür, Ayla Akat Ata, Aysel Tuğluk, İbrahim Binici, Ayşe Yağcı, Nezir Çakan, Pervin Oduncu, Meryem Adıbelli, Mesut Bağcık, Bircan Yorulmaz, Bülent Barmaksız, Can Memiş, Cihan Erdal, Berfin Özgü Köse, Günay Kubilay, Dilek Yağlı, Emine Ayna, Emine Beyza Üstün, Mehmet Hatip Dicle, Ertuğrul Kürkçü, Yurdusev Özsökmenler, Arife Köse, Ayfer Kordu, Aynur Aşan, Ayşe Tonğuç, Azime Yılmaz, Bayram Yılmaz, Bergüzar Dumlu, Cemil Bayık, Ceylan Bağrıyanık, Cihan Ekin, Demir Çelik, Duran Kalkan, Elif Yıldırım, Emine Tekas, Emine Temel, Emrullah Cin, Engin Karaaslan, Enver Güngör, Ercan Arslan, Fatma Şenpınar, Fehman Hüseyin, Ferhat Aksu, Filis Arslan, Filiz Duman, Gönül Tepe, Gülseren Törün, Gülten Alataş, Gülüşan Eksen, Gülüzar Tural, Güzel İmecik, Hacire Ateş, Hatice Altınışık, Hülya Oran, İsmail Özden, İsmail Şengül, Kamuran Yüksek, Layika Gültekin, Leyla Söğüt Aydeniz, Mahmut Dora, Mazhar Öztürk, Mazlum Tekdağ, Abdulselam Demirkıran, Mehmet Taş, Mehmet Tören, Menafi Bayazit, Mızgın Arı, Murat Karayılan, Mustafa Karasu, Muzaffer Ayata, Nazlı Taşpınar, Neşe Baltaş, Nihal Ay, Nuriye Kesbir, Remzi Kartal, Rıza Altun, Ruken Karagöz, Sabiha Onar, Sabri Ok, Salih Akdoğan, Salih Müslüm Muhammed, Salman Kurtulan, Sara Aktaş, Sibel Akdeniz, Şenay Oruç, Ünal Ahmet Çelen, Yahya Figan, Yasemin Becerekli, Yusuf Koyuncu, Yüksel Baran, Zeki Çelik, Zeynep Karaman, Zeynep Ölbeci, Zübeyir Aydar.

About Kobanî protests

In September 2014, ISIS, which controlled a large territory in Syria at the time, launched an offensive to Kobanî, a Kurdish town in northern Syria, near the country's border with Turkey.

In late September, a group of people went to Suruç, a town neighboring Kobanî in the predominantly Kurdish city of Urfa, and attempted to cross the border. Police prevented them, using tear gas and rubber bullets.

Pictures allegedly showing ISIS militia crossing into Syria were published on the same days.

Also, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made statements at the time, indicating that they equated the PKK with ISIS. While the wounded coming from Kobanî were kept waiting on the border, the wounded from ISIS were treated at hospitals, according to news reports. Several news reports were reported in the press, saying "Kobanî fell." These news reports were denied every time.

After the HDP made a call to take to the streets against a possible massacre in Kobanî, thousands of people protested in Kurdish-majority provinces as well as Ankara and İstanbul. While left parties also supported these protests, deaths also occurred with the onset of police violence. Street conflicts ensued. 42 people lost their lives from October 6 to 12, 2014.

According to a report by the Human Rights Association (İHD), 46 people died, 682 people were wounded and 323 people were arrested in the protests held between September 7 and 12, 2014. As reported by the AA, 31 people lost their lives, 221 citizens and 139 police officers were wounded.

(AS/VK)