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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A court in Ankara has decided to postpone the fourth hearing of the controversial Kobane trial until Tuesday after briefly beginning on Monday. The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair said that she remains optimistic that the defendants largely linked to her party would prove their innocence.
The case is trying about 108 people who they say took part in 2014 protests across Turkey - especially its Kurdish-majority southeast - against the Islamic State (ISIS) assault on the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane. Over 30 people died when the protests turned violent.
The defendants, including former HDP co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, are on trial for scores of different alleged crimes, among them murder and “disrupting the unity and integrity of the state”.
The court decided that three defendants, Can Memis, Altan Tan and Ibrahim Binici, do not have to attend the next hearing as they have already defended themselves, reported pro-Kurdish Mesopotamya news outlet.
HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan and several other party officials attended the hearing. She told reporters outside the court that those on trial will overcome the legal obstacle.
“We are witnessing a period in which an indictment, which has nothing to do with the law and was written with political motives, does not contain anything related to the truth,” she said. “We believe that our friends will demonstrate this claim with their defenses.”
The HDP defended its 2014 protests on Monday, reiterating that “solidarity with Kobani cannot be criminalized.”
Demirtas, who has been held in jail since November 2016 for terror-related charges, said in his defense during a hearing of the case in May that the case is “purely political.”
“The cause itself, its goals, and objectives, are purely political. The basis of the indictment is of no value,” he said.
Some Turkish officials claim that the HDP is the political wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - an armed group fighting for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Ankara has designated the PKK as a terrorist organization. The HDP has denied any organic links with the group.
The case is trying about 108 people who they say took part in 2014 protests across Turkey - especially its Kurdish-majority southeast - against the Islamic State (ISIS) assault on the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane. Over 30 people died when the protests turned violent.
The defendants, including former HDP co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, are on trial for scores of different alleged crimes, among them murder and “disrupting the unity and integrity of the state”.
The court decided that three defendants, Can Memis, Altan Tan and Ibrahim Binici, do not have to attend the next hearing as they have already defended themselves, reported pro-Kurdish Mesopotamya news outlet.
HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan and several other party officials attended the hearing. She told reporters outside the court that those on trial will overcome the legal obstacle.
“We are witnessing a period in which an indictment, which has nothing to do with the law and was written with political motives, does not contain anything related to the truth,” she said. “We believe that our friends will demonstrate this claim with their defenses.”
The HDP defended its 2014 protests on Monday, reiterating that “solidarity with Kobani cannot be criminalized.”
Demirtas, who has been held in jail since November 2016 for terror-related charges, said in his defense during a hearing of the case in May that the case is “purely political.”
“The cause itself, its goals, and objectives, are purely political. The basis of the indictment is of no value,” he said.
Some Turkish officials claim that the HDP is the political wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - an armed group fighting for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Ankara has designated the PKK as a terrorist organization. The HDP has denied any organic links with the group.
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