Kobanê Trial postponed to tomorrow due to Izmir Massacre

  • 16:25 17 June 2021
  • News
ANKARA - After the attack on the HDP provincial building in İzmir, in which Deniz Poyraz was killed, the lawyers of the Kobanê Trial and the politicians on trial stated that they could not continue the case. The trial will continue to be heard tomorrow.
 
The third hearing of the Kobanê Political Genocide Trial, where 108 people, including the former Co-Chairs of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş, and the former Co-Chair of the Democratic Regions Party (HDP) Sebahat Tuncel, are on trial, is on the fourth day. It continued after the recess in the Sincan Prison Campus.
 
‘Has a building of the AKP been damaged?’
 
The hearing continued with the court giving the floor to Günay Kubilay's lawyers. The attorney of the case, Özgür Erol, emphasized that the objections of the lawyers who declared that he is the attorney of the complainant were rejected, and said: “In this case, if anyone takes a lawyer with him/her, they can easily spill their grudge against our client. Why is the AKP MP not participating here as a deputy? Has a building of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) been damaged? Who is hurt? Leaving them, our client is asked questions such as 'Your party kidnapped a child to the mountain'.
 
‘We will not allow approaches that accuse our client’
 
Responding to the president of the court for not intervening in the complainant's lawyer's question, Özgür said: "You have no right to pour these questions on your clients in this way. While trying to express themselves in an unfair trial, you may allow approaches that try to accuse our clients more by relying on a sovereign power in this court, but we will not. In this regard, our clients and more than that, our friends. If the court does not do its part in this matter, we have to do it. Political debate can be with anyone, it is very simple, you take off your robe and talk. This is the court. We do not accept any accusation that goes beyond fabricated accusations against our client.”
 
‘27 of 37 victims are HDP members’
 
Reminding that one of the members of the board stated that the HDP was the only party that was not harmed in the Kobanê incidents, Özgür said: "Why was the HDP not harmed? Mr. President, court board you are not following any other source other than this indictment. If the Turkey chronology is take out, Can you see a second political party killed and prosecuted as much as the HDP? Shall we count the burned buildings of the HDP not burned? We will count whether the HDP people who were shot were not killed just because it did not write in the indictment. Open the Antep folder, Was the Şahinbey HDP district building burned or not? Are there those who burn here or not? We are doing a very comprehensive investigation on the complainant and the victim case in the file. We look at who was killed in which event, one by one. But beyond that, we will say, show, tell that 27 of the 37 victims who entered the file in the Kobanê incidents today are HDP members, what will you say, there are HDP members who did not enter the indictment and were killed."
 
‘Today the Izmir building was attacked’
 
Stating that the youth who brought aid to Kobanê in Suruç district of Urfa were killed by ISIS and there were HDP members among them, Özgür said: "Were the people killed in the Ankara Massacre not HDP members? We come from there to this day, we tell a ton of events. Today, in front of the HDP İzmir Provincial Building, a few armed people went to the party building and a young Kurdish woman whose job was to cook was killed at the party. Do not put your best behind. They kill this woman and burn the building down. Look at Twitter, look at the gun in that killer's hand, where it was shot. What is the reason for the attack on the HDP building today? In front of the İzmir HDP building, a group of provocateurs said for a month, 'They kidnapped our children to the mountain'. Today, the Izmir building was attacked. We have been talking about the ‘instigation’ thing for days. Let's discuss whether there is instigation or not."
 
He stated that they could not defend
 
Expressing his condolences to the family of Deniz, who was murdered in İzmir, Özgür said: “Under these conditions, the course of the trial deteriorated, as evidenced by the tension experienced during the lunch break. Under these circumstances, we will not continue our defenses today. We demand that you make a decision on this matter and continue the hearing tomorrow.”
Announcing its decision, the court board accepted the lawyer's request and recessed the hearing until tomorrow. The politicians who left the courtroom said, "We will not let it go like this, we will win" and left the courtroom.