KOBANI INVESTIGATION
HDP politicians 'kept at courthouse for 24 hours' before arrest, says deputy
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Photo: HDP
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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) politicians were remanded in custody "without any legal basis" and kept in the courthouse for 24 hours before being sent to prison, the party's spokesperson Ebru Günay said at a press conference today (October 2).
Eighty-two politicians from the HDP, including a mayor and former lawmakers, were detained on September 25 and 17 were remanded in custody yesterday as part of an investigation into the 2014 "Kobani protests," where 46 people were killed in several Kurdish-majority provinces.
Also, Kars Mayor Ayhan Bilgen is among those who are remanded in custody and he has been replaced with a trustee appointed by the Ministry of Interior.
Saying that the court's decision lacked a legal basis, Günay remarked, "A crime was committed at the Ankara Courthouse throughout the last night. Our friends, who had been in detention for days, were kept in the courthouse for 24 hours."
"While there was no tangible evidence, the prosecutor's office requested an arrest with fabricated allegations and the MPs were not taken to the courthouse upon an order by the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office," she added.
"The verdict of arrest did not surprise us at all. We already know very well that verdicts are not made in those courthouses. For days, it was like indictments were being written and arrest orders were being prepared with news reports of the partition TVs and newspapers.
"These arrests have targeted the HDP's pluralistic and colorful structure. The target is Turkey's united front of democratic politics. You won't be able to break our unity and integrity."
"Let's remember what happened"
"On the excuse of the protests that are known as the 'September 6-8 Kobani protests' but actually began at the end of September 2014 and started to grow after October 1, a political genocide operation was carried out in the morning on September 25," she said and summarized the events.
ISIS, which had significant parts of Iraq and Syria under its control at the time, started an offensive to Kobani, a Kurdish town bordering Turkey in northern Syria, on September 15, 2014.
"All across Turkey, Kurds and democrats were on the streets, exercising their right to protest, which is a constitutional right. The demand was very clear: The opening of an aid corridor from Kobani to Turkey and the prevention of a massacre.
"Millions of citizens who were demanding this had exercised their right to a democratic protest for one week. No single death, no single injury had occurred for one week.
"But on October 7, President [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan, as if telling the good news, said, "Kobani is about to fall," and provoked the country."
On the same day, one protester in Varto, Muş, Hakan Buksur (25), was killed by a police bullet, she said and added, "This is the first death in the protests that lasted about 10 days and it occurred with a police bullet."
Günay further noted that the HDP's all proposals for the establishment of parliamentary commissions for the investigation of the incidents were rejected by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
She said that the HDP would continue to propose investigations into the incidents.
The Kobani investigationAs part of an investigation conducted by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office into the Kobani incidents on October 6-8, 2014, detention warrants were issued against 82 members of the HDP, including 24 former Central Executive Committee members, on September 26. Following these orders for detention, Ayhan Bilgen, Alp Altınörs, Nazmi Gür, Altan Tan, Ayla Akat Aka, Emine Ayna, Sırrı Süreyya Önder, Bircan Yorulmaz, Gülfer Akkaya, Berfin Özgü Köse, Dilek Yağlı, Can Memiş, Günay Kubilay, Bülent Barmaksız, Zeki Çelik, Pervin Oduncu, İsmail Şengün, Ali Ürküt, Cihan Erdal, Emine Beyza Üstün were taken into custody. On the day of the operation, the detainees were taken from other provinces to the Ankara Security Directorate in the capital city. While they were restricted from meeting their attorneys for 24 hours, the HDP politicians started to meet their attorneys as of September 27. Using their right to remain silent at the security directorate, HDP Central Executive Committee member Alp Altınörs, HDP Foreign Relations Commission member Nazmi Gür, Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) former Co-Chair and MP Emine Ayna, HDP former Central Executive Committee members Bircan Yorulmaz, Gülfer Akkaya, Berfin Özgü Köse, Dilek Yağlı, Günay Kubilay, Bülent Parmaksız, Pervin Oduncu, İsmail Şengün, HDP former General Bookkeeper Zeki Çelik, HDP's RTÜK member Ali Ürküt and former MP Prof. Dr. Emine Beyza Üstün were brought to the courthouse for their deposition at the prosecutor's office on October 1. Having deposed at the security directorate, HDP's Kars Co-Mayor Ayhan Bilgen, HDP former Diyarbakır MP Altan Tan, former MP Ayla Akat Aka, HDP former MP Sırrı Süreyya Önder, HDP former Central Executive Committee member Can Memiş and Cihan Erdal alsa gave their statements at the prosecutor's office. They were then referred to the judgeship to be arrested. About the 2014 protestsBefore the protests held to support Kobani in northern Syria in 2014, those who were waiting in the district of Suruç, Urfa in southeastern Turkey and wanted to cross the border were intervened with pepper gas and rubber bullets. In the meantime, some pictures allegedly showing ISIS militia crossing the border of Turkey were published. President and ruling AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made statements indicating that they equated PKK with ISIS. While the wounded coming from Kobani were kept waiting on the border, the wounded from ISIS were treated at hospitals. Several news reports were reported in the press, saying "Kobani fell." These news reports were denied every time. After the HDP made a call to take to the streets against a possible massacre in Kobani, 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 October 6 and 8, 2014. As reported by the AA, 31 people lost their lives, 221 citizens and 139 police officers were wounded. Conducted by Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor Yüksel Kocaman, the investigation started a year ago. First, the depositions of former jailed HDP Co-Chairs Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş were interrogated as part of this investigation. Released in the trial where he had been arrested pending trial, Demirtaş faced another ruling of arrest as part of this "Kobani investigation" on the same day. |
(AS/VK)