Turkish court sentences Kurdish leader to 42 years in prison for 2014 unrest

A Turkish court on Thursday sentenced the former leader of a pro-Kurdish party to 42 years in prison for his alleged role in deadly 2014 protests that erupted when jihadists from the Islamic State group invaded the Syrian city of Kobane.

In prison since 2016, Selahattin Demirtas, 51, a two-time electoral rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was convicted of dozens of crimes, including undermining state unity and the integrity of the country.

The court in Sincan, a suburb of Ankara, also sentenced former co-chairman of the People's Democratic Party (HDP), Figen Yuksekdag, to 30 years and three months in prison, private broadcaster NTV and the group reported. defense of MLSA rights.

After the hearing, several deputies from the party, since renamed DEM, held up portraits of the two imprisoned leaders in the National Assembly.

Fearing unrest after the affair, the governors of at least 14 southern provinces with large Kurdish and Syrian communities banned demonstrations for four days, the MLSA added.

The court ordered the release of some politicians, including Gultan Kisanak, former mayor of the major pro-Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, but many others were sentenced to prison terms.

The prosecutions of former HDP members, including Demirtas and Yuksekdag, stem from a dark episode in Syria's war that lasted more than a decade.

Thirty-seven people died during demonstrations against the inaction of the Turkish army in the face of the IS offensive against this city in northern Syria, with a Kurdish majority.

Fighting was visible on the Turkish side of the border and many in the Kurdish community viewed the army as complicit in the humanitarian disaster that followed.

The jihadists were driven out of Kobane in January 2015 by US-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters, whom Turkey officially considers terrorists.

Turkey views the HDP as the political front of outlawed Kurdish militants who are waging an insurgency that has cost tens of thousands of lives since 1984.

The HDP blamed the Turkish police for the deaths.

During his testimony in 2023, Demirtas criticized the accusations against him. “There is no evidence about me. This is a case of political revenge, we were not arrested legally, we are all political hostages.”

Demirtas has been imprisoned in the western city of Edirne since 2016, and faces numerous trials on terrorism-related charges, which Western governments view as part of Erdogan's crackdown on political dissent.

The European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly called for his release.

-'Black spot'-

The court verdict against former leaders and members of the HDP – which faces a trial that could lead to its closure – has sparked protests.

DEM party co-chairman Tuncer Bakirhan called the verdict a “black stain in the history of Turkish justice.”

“We all witnessed a legal massacre here today,” Bakirhan said.

“We tried to erase the Kurds and the revolutionaries from the political scene,” he added.

Prosecutors accused the 108 defendants of “undermining the integrity of the state” and crimes including looting and murder.

They requested an aggravated life sentence against 36 suspects, including Demirtas, accused of undermining state unity and the integrity of the country.

Human Rights Watch called the conviction of Demirtas and other Kurdish political leaders the latest step in a campaign of persecution that has disenfranchised primarily Kurdish voters.

“Using bogus criminal proceedings to exclude democratically elected Kurdish politicians from politics will do nothing to end the decades-long conflict between the Turkish state and the PKK,” said Hugh Williamson, director of the division. Europe and Central Asia to Human Rights Watch.

Defense lawyers said they would appeal the verdict, handed down after Erdogan spoke of a “softening” of politics, after his Islamic-rooted party suffered a historic defeat in local elections on 31 March.

“Politics in Turkey must soften. We will do our part as before,” he said in a speech on Wednesday.

The issue of political prisoners, including civil society leader Osman Kavala, was reportedly raised during Erdogan's rare May 2 meeting with CHP opposition leader Ozgur Ozel. The CHP retained control of major cities, including Istanbul, and made significant gains in the March vote.

On Wednesday, an Istanbul court rejected a request for Kavala to be retried.

The Paris-born philanthropist was arrested in October 2017 and sentenced to life in prison in 2022 for allegedly trying to overthrow Erdogan's government.

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