Erdogan’s violations against the Kurds…21 Kurdish politicians sentenced to prison for terrorism

Fatima Abdul Ghani

144 years is the total outcome of the prison sentences handed down by the Penal Court in Mardin Province, southern Turkey, to 21 Kurdish politicians in the case in which 50 politicians are being tried.

According to the Turkish newspaper, Al-Zaman, among the courts, mayors of Kyzyl Tappa and Artoklu were removed from their posts in 2016, as part of the “Union of Kurdish Communities” case in Mardin.

The court, which has been examining the case file since 2014, held the sentencing session on Thursday, June 25 and sentenced several defendants to the prison sentence.

Six defendants were sentenced to 8 years in prison on charges of “belonging to a terrorist organization”, while 6 defendants were sentenced to 6 years and 3 months imprisonment against 11 defendants, and three defendants were sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison, and one defendant was sentenced to 9 years imprisonment.

While the court issued a verdict acquitting 10 of the defendants, while the trial of 19 others continues pending the same case.

The Mardine Penal Court’s decisions coincided with the country’s Supreme Court’s rejection of a request by the Kurdish Democratic People’s Party to cancel the parliament’s decision to drop the membership of two members of his party for their conviction for terrorism, as the Turkish parliament had canceled the membership of Laila Govin early this June, as well as MP Musa Faris Ugullari, to begin After that an open sit-in in several cities protested the decision, but the police intervened and broke up the sit-in forcibly.

The Kurdish Democratic Peoples Party demands the release of its former president, Salahuddin Demirtaş, who has been in prison for four years on terrorism-related charges, and Demirtaş is still in prison despite the Supreme Constitutional Court’s recent admission that his right to freedom has been violated and he has ordered financial compensation.

Turkish opposition parties accuse Turkish President Erdogan of using the judiciary to punish his political opponents, and it is based on this that he tightened his control over him after he appointed judges and prosecutors who are described as totally indebted to him.

On the other hand, Erdogan accuses the Kurdish Democratic Peoples Party, represented in the Turkish parliament, of 65 deputies, as the political wing of the PKK. He took this as an opportunity to permanently restrict his members and deputies in Parliament and the municipalities he won.

It is noteworthy that in October of last year, a Turkish court sentenced 5 Kurdish politicians to 45 years in prison, including the member of the Council of Democratic Territories detained by Iram Demirhan, who was then suffering a significant deterioration in his health.

The day after the criminal court sentenced 21 Kurdish politicians to prison, the Public Prosecution Office in the city of Diyarbakir, in the southeast of the country, late Friday, June 26, issued a decision to arrest 64 people, 42 of whom were arrested on suspicion of having links with the PKK.

Among the detainees were former mayors of the Kurdish Democratic Peoples’ Party.

The arrests were based on investigations carried out by the Public Prosecution since 2018 in the mainly Kurdish state of Diyarbakir.

Among the detainees were Muhammad Demir, the former Batman mayor, who was dismissed by a decision of the Ministry of the Interior, and the isolated Mayor of Silwan also called Nashida Toprak, as well as leaders of the HDP.

The security forces carried out the arrests in the states of Istanbul, Diyarbakir, Izmir, Batman, Adana and Urufa, to arrest 42 suspects, while the pursuit of others continues.

According to press reports, the Kurdish-dominated provinces of southeast Turkey are witnessing major security violations under the pretext of chasing the PKK, as the authorities launch from time to time large-scale detention campaigns targeting the Kurds; Allegedly that they support the aforementioned party, which causes them to pretend from time to time to reject repression.

It is noteworthy that international organizations, especially the United Nations, along with local human rights organizations in Turkey were revealed through documented reports of Erdogan’s government violations in the field of human rights.