Trial And Terror

Issue #212

A crisis is a terrible thing to waste. And so, the search for Iranian Pres. Ebrahim Raisi’s crash site became a marketing opportunity for Turkish drones this week.

Iranian officials later downplayed Turkey’s role, claiming Iranian drones found the site. The statements did not stop the meme flood as Erdoğan called for a national day of mourning.

In this week’s news:

• Long prison sentences for HDP politicians

• Erdoğan pardons ‘postmodern coup’ generals

• Exiled journalist unveils Ankara’s EU funding habit

• Turkey and China talk energy, EVs

• Oktar forever blames the British deep state

Also from Turkey recap:

• Ingrid Woudwijk on the New Welfare Party’s rise in Şanlıurfa

• Neslihan Çevik on Erdoğan’s potential game plan for another term

DEM Party officials protested the Kobani verdicts at the Justice Ministry Tuesday. © DEM

A 130-page verdict and a total of more than 400 years of jail time. This was the conclusion of the Kobani trial Thursday, where 108 officials from the pro-Kurdish HDP were prosecuted.

Twenty four HDP officials were sentenced to jail, with former co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş sentenced to 42.5 years in prison and former co-chair Figen Yüksekdağ sentenced to 30 years and 3 months.

Of the defendants, 18 were jailed, 18 others were freed pending the verdict while 72 suspects remain at large – their case was separated and will continue.

Prominent Kurdish politicians Gültan Kışanak and Sebahat Tuncel were convicted, but were released considering the time they already spent in prison (8 years and 7.5 years, respectively).

Lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish DEM Party condemned the verdicts, while a protest ban was declared in 12 provinces following the rulings. 

“In a period where we hear normalization and softening messages [from the government], there is an attempt to erase the HDP, Kurdish politics, revolutionaries and democrats from the political scene,” said DEM co-chair Tuncer Bakırhan.

Human Rights Watch defined the case as a “manifestly political and unjust trial” with “bogus criminal proceedings”, writing the “verdict also flagrantly flouts two binding judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.”

Berfin Coşkun, researcher at the Kurdish Studies Center in Diyarbakır, told Turkey recap the case was a test for “the AKP government's commitment to political normalization and adherence to the rule of law.”

Yet the outcome failed to demonstrate such commitments, Çoskun said, adding: “The government's notion of normalization seems very limited and does not include the Kurdish community.”

Pres. Erdoğan responded Monday, saying the decision “brought relief”. He added: “Separatist organization elements, using the developments in Syria as an excuse, attempted a rebellion that directly targeted the survival of our state.”

In an interview on Sözcü TV, CHP head Özgür Özel said the sentences were “unacceptable” and that “there is no law in this court case.”

İstanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu also commented on the case, saying: “Whether their name is Selahattin Demirtaş or Ahmet Türk, convicting these people does not and will not bring anything to this country.”

Çoskun said she expected these reactions to likely reinforce the CHP as an alternative party for Kurds, especially those in western Turkey, while AKP support among the Kurds might decline even further.

Demirtaş himself responded from prison to questions from T24, saying he was sentenced to 42 years “just for my thoughts and things I said.”

“The state of the Republic of Turkey sees the Kurds' struggle in democratic politics and their strengthening in this way as more dangerous than going to the mountains and getting weapons,” he said, referring to the armed militants of the PKK in the Qandil mountains.

Additionally, the verdict further reduces the likelihood of negotiations between DEM and AKP, Çoskun said.

 “A critical moment will be if a trustee is appointed to replace Ahmet Türk [as mayor of Mardin]. If this happens, it would severely hinder any dialogue between DEM and AKP,” she told Turkey recap.

The court rulings are not yet final, as approval is needed from the Court of Cassation (Yargıtay).

“This verdict could pave the way for appointing a trustee,” said Çoskun, adding: “We've seen trustees appointed to replace the elected mayors with legal processes at much earlier stages.”

– Ingrid Woudwijk