Turkish judiciary convicts Peoples’ Democratic Party officials

ANKARA — In 2016, the Turkish regime arrested Co-Chairs and MPs of the Peoples ‘ Democratic Party (Halkların Demokratik Partisi, HDP), under the pretext of calling for demonstrations to support Kobani in North and East Syria.

Politicians were accused of conspiracy. After 8 years of investigations, the Court of Istanbul announced the prison sentence against 108 Kurdish politicians.

The court sentenced former Co-Chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtaş to more than 40 years in jail for instigating protests in 2014 triggered by an attack of the Islamic State (ISIS) on the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani.

Another pro-Kurdish party leader, Figen Yüksekdağ, was sentenced to just over 30 years in jail.

In addition to other sentences against 32 MPs, including Ahmet Türk on charges of membership of a terrorist organization, as well as Gültan Kışanak and Meryem Adıbelli.

The verdict in the Kobane Trial was scheduled to take place last month, but it was delayed without proper explanation. It was reportedly delated to avoid criticism of Turkey’s human rights record, ahead of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s scheduled visit to Washington which was canceled due to tensions between Turkey and the U.S., against the background of the Gaza war and the Ukraine war.

In October, 2014, ISIS launched an attack on Kobani, which prompted the HDP to issue a call for demonstrations and demand that Turkey open a humanitarian crossing to help civilians.

These demonstrations later turned into clashes between demonstrators and the Turkish police, who used violence against demonstrators. As a result, 51 people were killed and many others were injured.

Head of the People’s Republican Party Özgür Özal condemned the recent court decision. Demonstrators took to streets in 20 Turkish cities to express their disapproval of the court decision and support the detainees.

The Democratic Autonomous Administration of the Region of North and East Syria (DAARNES) condemned the verdict, noting that it is only a revenge for the fall of the Islamic State (ISIS).

“This is not a human rights trial but a political trial aimed at suppressing peoples and silencing their voice.

“Through such trials, the Turkish regime seeks to cover up the failure of its policy in all economic, political, internal and regional fields,” the DAARNES statement declared.

Furthermore, 33 political parties in the DAARNES, including the Syriac Union Party (SUP) in Syria, issued a joint statement, in which they condemned this Turkish judicial verdict.

In their statement, the parties called on the UN, European Union and U.S.-led International Coalition to stand by these politicians and raise their voice against the fascist Turkish regime.