The first hearing of the case against 108 people, 28 of whom are currently behind bars, accused of the protests took place between October 6-9, 2014 as a result of the ISIS attack on Kobané will be held on April 26.  Former HDP Co-chairs Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş, DBP former Co-Chair Sebahat Tuncel, Diyarbakır former Mayor Gültan Kışanak and the party's Central Executive Board (MYK) are among those detained within the scope of the case to be held at the Ankara 22nd High Criminal Court.

 

In the statement made after the Central Executive Board (MYK) meeting held on 6 October 2014, the following was stated, “The situation in Kobanê is extremely critical. We call on our people to take to the streets and support those who took to the streets to protest the attacks of ISIS and the AKP government's embargo on Kobanê ”.

 

The investigation into the protests that took place 6 years ago was launched after the ECtHR decided the release of Demirtaş. . Apart from the names already detained within the scope of the investigation initiated by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, 17 of the 20 politicians detained on September 25, 2020 were arrested and Sırrı Süreyya Önder, Gülfer Akkaya and Altan Tan were released with a judicial control decision. With the following arrests, the number of people behind bars within the scope of this investigation is currently 28.

 

Kars Municipality Co-Mayor Ayhan Bilgen who was dismissed and replaced with a trustee even though it was known that he was not in the MYK meeting and DBP former Co-Chair Emine Ayna were added to the file as defendants.

 

MOTION DISMISSED

 

Although Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office determined the legal responsibility of Selahattin Demirtaş in the Kobane incidents as 'opposing the law on meetings and demonstrations', numbered 2911, in the indictment of 3 thousand 530 pages prepared later, the HDP politicians were accused of 31 different crimes including 'attempted murder' and 'causing miscarriage'. However, HDP Group requested a parliamentary inquisition into the events three times before and they were all rejected with the votes of AKP and MHP. No answers have been given to why these motions were rejected.

 

27 OF THOSE MURDERED DURING PROTESTS ARE HDP MEMBERS OR VOLUNTEERS

 

Although 54 people were killed during protests, only 37 of the deaths were investigated. According to the booklet HDP published before the hearing, it was stated that 27 of the people killed were either HDP members or volunteers.

 

This means that HDP politicians are accused of the deaths of their party members under conditions where investigations into revealing the perpetrators of these deaths are avoided.

 

LAW SUIT AGAINST HDP TO BAN THE PARTY

 

While the peace process ended with the murder of two police officers in Ceylanpınar after the June 7 elections where AKP lost the chance to come to power alone, the next step after the Kobané Case organized to criminalize the party have been a law suit to ban HDP. 

 

BİNGÖL ASSASINATION!

 

One of the most striking events during the Kobanê protests was the assassination of Bingöl Police Chief Atalay Ürker.

 

On 9 October 2014, Bingöl Police Chief Ülker and protection police Uğur Atlı, who were subjected to an armed attack while examining Cenk Street, which was the scene of protests at around 21.30 in the city center, were wounded, while Deputy Police Chief Atıf Şahin and his bodyguard, Commissioner Hüseyin Hatipoğlu, lost their lives. 

 

Selahattin Demirtaş explained what happened behind the scenes of the October 6-9 protests over the Bingöl assassination at the hearing held on April 12, 2018. Stating that they were informed by the Minister of Interior Efkan Ala himself before the assasination even reflected to press, Demirtaş said that Ala asked him if the PKK was responsible for the assassination, asking him to check it with Qandil. Demirtaş got in touch with Qandil through a politician in Hewler (Erbil) and told him that they had nothing to do with it. Ala was relieved hearing it wasn't and said 'We would never been able to work it out if they were".

 

ÖNDER: ÖCALAN'S NOT WAS DELIVERED TO THEM

 

Sırrı Süreyya Önder, one of the members of the İmralı Delegation who was detained and released within the scope of the investigation, expresses those days with the following words in the prosecutor's statement: “We were in the office of the Minister of Interior on 7-8 October 2014. Me and İdris Baluken was in the room with him. Pervin Buldan came over for a short while and left as I remember. We conveyed the information conveyed to us from the regions where the incidents took place to the Minister of Internal Affairs for him to know what is actually happening and ensure the police intervened correctly. A note was delivered to me on October 9, 2014 by the head adviser of the Minister of Interior. It was handwritten by Abdullah Öcalan who told that the violence should end as soon as possible. I sent that note to Selahattin Demirtaş via Whatsapp the minute it came to me and he published the note. At that time, I had frequent meetings with government officials in order to prevent the incidents and provocations. "

 

SILENCE OF DAVUTOĞLU!

 

Despite all of these efforts, the government continued to attack HDP. HDP Co-Chair Pervin Buldan made a call to the Future Party Chair Davutoğlu, who was the Prime Minister at the time and who said that the government could not go out in public again if he were to tell all that he knows, and said: "It is time to tell the truth". Davutoğlu was content with just saying that the operation against HDP was not legal. 

 

 

MA / Ömer Çelik