Erdogan endorses court ruling against Kurdish politicians

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday endorsed a court ruling that sentenced Kurdish politicians to lengthy jail time, stating that the decision “renewed faith in the manifestation of justice."

A Turkish court on Thursday sentenced former co-chairs of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtas to 42 years in prison, and Figen Yuksekdag to 30 years and three months, for their alleged involvement in 2014 protests in support of the Kurdish city of Kobane in northern Syria (Rojava).

The court also sentenced Ahmet Turk, a veteran Kurdish politician who became the mayor of Mardin municipality during the March local elections, to 10 years in prison.

“We do not approve of comments that crossed the line regarding the court's decision. The decision has brought solace to hearts that have writhed for the past 10 years with the pain of their losses, and has renewed faith in the manifestation of justice,” Erdogan said in a speech during an event in Ankara.

“Even if it is late, we see that after 10 years the right has prevailed, and we are pleased for the victims and for our democracy,” he added.

The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), as well as Turkish opposition leaders quickly criticized the ruling and labeled the verdict as “political”.

“We do not recognize this verdict. Selahattin [Demirtas], Figen [Yuksekdag], and those on trial in the Kobane case have been acquitted in the hearts of Kurds, Turks, workers, women, and youth; they are free," the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Co-chair Tuncer Bakirhan told reporters in Ankara following the ruling.

In October 2014, the city of Kobane in northeastern Syria (Rojava) was under attack by the Islamic State (ISIS). HDP now rebranded as DEM Party, called for street protests to ask the Turkish government to open a corridor allowing military aid from the Kurdistan Region to reach the Kurdish city. The protests turned violent and 51 people were killed and hundreds more injured. 

Days after the start of the protests, Demirtas held a press conference in Diyarbakir (Amed) where he criticized the violence while remaining firm in his support for the protestors. The demonstrations ended on his call.

Turkey’s chief prosecutor's office filed a case against the pro-Kurdish politicians in December 2020, six years after the Kobane protests. The first hearing for the case took place in April 2021.

“If a case was opened five years after the incident if the indictment was written directly by the chairman of a political party for years, and then the case was opened, this case is a political case,” said Ozgur Ozel, leader of Turkey’s largest opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), during a televised interview hours after the ruling on Thursday.

The Turkish president labeled the 2014 protests as a “terrorist uprising”.

“Trying to justify this terrorist uprising as a 'political case' is an insult to law and democracy above all else,” Erdogan said.

The rulings by the Ankara court come less than two months after Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost at the local polls. He has blamed the DEM Party for his party’s failure in metropolises like Istanbul, where he claimed that the pro-Kurdish party supported the opposition candidate, Ekrem Imamoglu.

Erdogan, however, said earlier this month that he sees a political "softening" in Turkey following his election loss.

“We have been hearing normalization and softening messages (from the government circles) in these days, but today the HDP, Kurdish politics, and democrats are being attempted to be erased from the political scene," Bakirhan said. 

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