‘We are put on trial because we demand justice’

* Photo: Ayça Söylemez / bianet

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

The "700th Week" lawsuit filed against Saturday Mothers/People continued at the İstanbul 21st Penal Court of First Instance yesterday (July 12).

CLICK - Lawsuit against Saturday People over their 700th gathering

A lawsuit was filed against 46 people who were detained during the police attack targeting the 700th gathering of Saturday Mothers/ People, who have been demanding justice for their enforced disappeared relatives at Galatasaray Square in İstanbul. Since the police intervention in the 700th week on August 25, 2018, they have been prevented from gathering there.

As part of this recent lawsuit, the defendants have been charged with "unarmed participation in unlawful demonstrations and marches and refusal to disperse despite warning" and they now face a possible sentence for violating the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations.

CLICK - 'This lawsuit is a threat to everyone demanding rights'

Before the second hearing started yesterday, the Human Rights Association (İHD) İstanbul Branch held a press statement in front of the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan. Speaking there, Ayşe Tepe said, "We will never give up on asking, 'Where are our sons and daughters?'"

Abducted and killed, Özgür Gündem reporter Ferhat Tepe's sister Ayşe Tepe said, "What is put on trial here today is our Constitutional rights. We will not give up on exercising our Constitutional rights. We will not give up on the Galatasaray Square, which we chose to exercise this right of ours and where we sat for 700 weeks without a single incident caused by us."

İHD Co-Chair Öztürk Türkdoğan also underlined that the trial of Saturday Mothers/People should end in acquittal immediately.

'Civil disobedience going on for a long time'

As reported by Mezopotamya Agency (MA), the defense attorney and Human Rights Association (İHD) Co-Chair Öztürk Türkdoğan took the floor at the hearing and briefly said the following:

The protest of the mothers is the most lasting protest of civil disobedience in Turkey. Moreover, the square has become a site of memory. It is the mothers' most natural and legitimate right that they demand the perpetrators be put on trial. Thus, I say that the lawsuit is not lawful.

He demanded the defendants' acquittal; it was rejected.

Taking the floor afterwards, defendant Jiyan Tosun's lawyer Tuğçe Duygu Köksal said that the subject matter of the case was a peaceful meeting and demonstration. Underlining that the intervention during the incident and the ongoing trial were both against the Constitution and international conventions, lawyer Köksal requested that the İstanbul Bar Association be granted the status of an observer to follow up the lawsuit.

'This is a case of shame'

Speaking about the trial afterwards, Diyarbakır Bar Association Chair Nahit Eren said, "I think this is a case of shame."

Noting that it is not possible to accept the indictment within the legal order and requesting acquittal for this reason, Eren said:

Saturday Mothers had held peaceful protests within the scope of freedom of thought for 699 weeks. It is a protest with justice at its core. They did it so that the dark periods would not recur. When you make the people searching for justice defendants of this trial, society's trust in justice is undermined. I request immediate acquittal in this file.

'Try those who committed a crime against humanity'

Besna Tosun, the daughter of enforced disappeared Fehmi Tosun, and Gamze and Özge Elvan, the sisters of Berkin Elvan, who was killed during the Gezi resistance of 2013, made written statements.

Detailing what happened when they were in detention, Tosun wrote:

Despite our reports of battery and images taken at the moment of incident, our criminal complaints to the prosecutor's office have ended in non-prosecution. Today, we are put on trial here as the ones whose rights were violated and who were subjected to police violence.

"Today, the ones who had responsibility for the enforced disappearance of my father, so, the ones who committed a crime against humanity should have been here; but my sister and I are put on trial because we searched for our father and because we demand justice."

'Our shared sorrow bound us together'

Berkin Elvan's sister Özge Elvan wrote:

After my brother's passing, our shared sorrows have bound us together. It is very sad, but the only thing that differentiates us from the Saturday Mothers is that my brother has a grave. The fact that my brother has a grave makes us lucky, so to speak. It is a very sad and grave situation. What has changed since the 90s is only the chairs and leaders; but what has not changed from the Mothers to Gezi is the use of violence as a traditional method. I tried to be on the mothers' side in their rightful struggle and I will continue to do so.

Gamze Elvan also wrote, "Those who took our loved ones away from us must be put on trial in these courtrooms, not us. The judicial authority must investigate the crime of enforced disappearance and punish the responsible ones, not the ones searching for their loved ones. I will keep on supporting the Saturday Mothers as long as I breathe. I will be on their side until their requests are met. This will never change."

'No crime, but torture commited by police'

Following the recess, Sinan Arslan took the floor and underlined that the detained people were subjected to violence during their detention and the police cursed them. Afterwards, the Elvan sisters and lawyer Çiğdem Akbulut protested the presiding judge for showing the people whose statements were heard the pictures taken on the day of the incident.

"No crime was committed there. On the contrary, it was the police who committed torture there," they underlined.

The lawyers requested recusal. The court board rejected this request. After the request was rejected, the defendants and their lawyers left the courtroom and the hearing was recessed. After the recess, the court board announced that the next hearing would be held on November 24.

Lawsuit against 46 rights defenders

The following people face a lawsuit over their participation in the 700th week: Koray Çağlayan, Koray Kesik, Leman Yurtsever, Levent Gökçek, Lezgin Özalp, Maside Ocak, Mehmet Günel, Muhammed Emin Ekinci, Ayça Çevik, Besna Koç, Cafer Balcı, Can Danyal Aktaş, Cihan Oral Gülünay, Cüneyt Yılmaz, Deniz Koç, Ercan Süslü, Ezgi Çevik, Faruk Eren, Fecri Çalboğa, Ferhat Ergen, Gamze Elvan, Hakan Koç, Hasan Akbaba, Hasan Karakoç, Jiyan Tosun, Kenan Yıldızerler, Murat Akbaş, Murat Koptaş, Onur Yanardağ, Osman Akın, Özer Oymak, Özge Elvan, Ramazan Bayram, Rüşa Sabur, Sadettin Köse, Adil Can Ocak, Ahmet Karaca, Ahmet Süleyman Benli, Ali Ocak, Ali Yiğit Karaca, Atakan Taşbilek, Ataman Doğa Kıroğlu, Saime Sebla Arcan, Sinan Arslan, Ulaş Bedri Çelik, Volkan Uyar.

It is also decided that the case files of the MPs who were there to attend the demonstration be separated from others as they have legislative immunity.

(AS/SD)