{"id":4327,"date":"2024-01-05T09:58:25","date_gmt":"2024-01-05T08:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/?p=4327"},"modified":"2024-02-11T04:34:59","modified_gmt":"2024-02-11T03:34:59","slug":"selahattin-demirtas-puts-the-turkish-state-on-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/selahattin-demirtas-puts-the-turkish-state-on-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Selahattin Demirta\u015f Puts the Turkish State on Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is it possible to shame a state who proudly celebrates their lack of moral conscience? The answer is being sought currently, as on Tuesday, the Erdo\u011fan regime in Turkey commenced their illegitimate show trial of Selahattin Demirta\u015f, the former co-chair of the People\u2019s Democratic Party (HDP). To his credit, Demirta\u015f mounted a powerful defense in response to the unfounded allegations by the Turkish state, which were part of the wider 48th<\/sup> session of the so-called \u2018Koban\u00ea trial\u2019 at Ankara\u2019s 22nd<\/sup> Heavy Penal Court on the Sincan Prison Campus.<\/p>\n

The latest trial came only days after Demirta\u015f lost his father<\/a><\/span>, whose health had severely deteriorated following a car accident he suffered while attempting to visit his son in prison. However, in a demonstration of his commitment to the liberation of the oppressed Kurdish nation, Demirta\u015f refused to attend his father\u2019s funeral and opted instead to continue his fight for justice and human rights from his prison cell.<\/p>\n

For a century, the Turkish Republic has presented one of the most brutal and violent examples of a regime that desires the total erasure of ethnic minorities, building atop their cruel foundation of the Armenian and Greek Genocides. Similarly, its responses towards Kurds have included decades of ethnic cleansing, thousands of villages erased across the map of occupied Northern Kurdistan, pogroms, imprisonments, executions, cultural erasure<\/a><\/span>, and persecution of anything resembling Kurdishness.<\/p>\n

However, modern Turkey can no longer hide its decades of oppression and sadism towards the Kurds, as trials are now publicized, arrests and attacks on Kurdish civilians are shared live across social media, and anonymous statements or leaks often occur. Even in prison, Demirta\u015f\u2019s voice continues to raise hopes for peace and freedom for the millions of Kurds who continue to find their voices restricted and their lives reduced to second-class citizens in increasingly tyrannical Turkey. Demirta\u015f\u2019s trial is a tribunal against the entire Kurdish nation, along with its hopes and aspirations for basic human rights within Turkey.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A courtroom sketch of Demirta\u015f giving his legal defense, since the trial is not allowed to be televised.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Demirta\u015f\u2019s Defense<\/strong><\/p>\n

Demirta\u015f\u2019s poetic and eloquent defense has turned the trials on their head and instead placed the spotlight on the Turkish regime\u2019s ongoing, vast, and never-ending violence towards Kurds not only across occupied Northern Kurdistan in \u2018Turkey\u2019, but also across the border both in Rojava (north \u2018Syria\u2019) and Southern Kurdistan in \u2018Iraq\u2019. During the proceedings, Demirta\u015f accused the trials of being a frame-up case and called the accusations against him \u201cpure and unadulterated\u201d lies. He went on to state that:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cFor years, we have been trying to convey the truth while others attempt to tell lies. We know that lies cannot be retracted. We are aware that the perpetrators of these lies derive a masochistic pleasure. Without succumbing, we will maintain our stance, turning our pains into honey. We will once again expose the historical lies.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Emphasizing the transformative power of politics, Demirta\u015f remarked that: \u201cIn today\u2019s world, where human relationships are fragile, the real concept that defines relationships is liquid modernity.\u201d Demirta\u015f further stated that, \u201cWith politics rendered powerless, people lack trust in it because politics cannot deliver what people expect.\u201d He raised questions such as, \u201cWhy has politics collapsed in Turkey? Who holds the power, and who is keeping us imprisoned? What force is at play?\u201d Demirta\u015f further highlighted the ongoing illegal detention of other politicians, such as Can Atalay<\/a><\/span>, who has remained in detention despite recently being elected Parliamentarian.<\/p>\n

Demirta\u015f\u2019s Challenge to Erdo\u011fan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Demirta\u015f is a Kurdish human rights lawyer, writer, politician, and former Parliamentarian. Demirta\u015f became the co-chair of the Peace and Democratic Party (BDP) and was directly involved in the historical peace process negotiations with the Turkish state. He was one of the members of the BDP party who visited<\/a><\/span> imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah \u00d6calan on Imrali Island, who himself has been held for 24 years in inhumane isolation for believing that Kurds deserve human dignity.<\/p>\n

Demirta\u015f gained increasing popularity as the co-leader of the pro-Kurdish and left-wing People\u2019s Democratic Party (HDP) between 2014-2018, along with Figen Y\u00fcksekda\u011f. Prior to his participation in politics, Demirta\u015f was a member of the executive committee of the Amed (Diyarbakir) branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD). Eventually, Demirta\u015f replaced the revered Osman Baydemir<\/a><\/span> as the IHD chair when Baydemir was elected as the mayor of Amed. Demirta\u015f focused his time as the chair of the IHD on addressing Turkey\u2019s long tradition of violence against political activists.<\/p>\n

Demirta\u015f\u2019s political platform placed heavy emphasis on gender equality and promoting women\u2019s participation in municipal and parliamentary elections. As a result of this pro-women platform by HDP and Demirta\u015f, several women including G\u00fcltan Kisanak<\/a><\/span> and Februniye Akyol<\/a><\/span> were elected as co-Mayors of Amed and M\u00eard\u00een respectively.<\/p>\n

Demirta\u015f was arrested on November 4th<\/sup>, 2016, along with his co-chair Figen Y\u00fcksekdag<\/a><\/span>, and 12 other HDP members of Parliament. A wide public outcry across Turkey and internationally claimed that Erdo\u011fan was implementing such measures in a bid to shut down the third largest and most influential political party in the country.<\/p>\n

The Turkish state’s reasons for Demirta\u015f\u2019s arrest involved allegations concerning a statement he made on October 6th<\/sup>, 2014, in support of anti-regime protests in relation to Turkey\u2019s support for ISIS during their siege of Koban\u00ea. Erdo\u011fan accused him of inciting the mass uprisings of Kurds in occupied Northern Kurdistan in protest of Turkey\u2019s complacency, as innocent Kurdish civilians were attacked and slaughtered by ISIS while Turkish tanks watched idly nearby.<\/p>\n

In the initial hearings, Demirta\u015f accused the court of working to enforce Erdo\u011fan\u2019s political aspirations and stated that:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI will never accept to be a subject of the judges and prosecutors who wait hand and foot while the dignity of the judicial system is trampled. I don\u2019t mean to disrespect you personally. However, I won\u2019t be a puppet in this trumped-up judicial theater, which is started by the order of Erdo\u011fan who has a really shady and questionable personal background. I won’t answer your questions. I don\u2019t think that any legal procedure that will be carried out by you could be just and lawful. Even my detention is done illegally.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

By early January 2017, Demirta\u015f was facing an absurd Kafkaesque 142-year prison sentence<\/a><\/span> as Turkish prosecutors concocted more than 100 charges against him. By September 2018, Demirta\u015f was sentenced to an additional 4 years and 8 months<\/a><\/span> on account of an earlier Newroz speech made during March 2013. Essentially, each time a European court rules that Turkey needs to release Demirta\u015f because of fictitious charges, the Turkish state merely makes up another false charge and says their ruling does not cover his current offenses.<\/p>\n

However, Erdo\u011fan has far more to fear from Demirta\u015f than simply inciting Kurdish discontent against the Turkish regime. Back in 2014, as the Kurds across Rojava were gaining international acclaim and support for their historic resistance against an ever-expanding ISIS, Demirta\u015f was the presidential candidate<\/a><\/span> for the HDP during the decisive election. Much to the shock of the far-right Turkish regime and political parties, Demirta\u015f came in third in the elections and gathered over 13.1% of the vote following the June 2015 parliamentary elections. Despite all the hurdles placed in his way, by November, he had again gathered 10.7% of votes in a snap election and managed to come in 4th<\/sup>. Despite his arrest in November 2016, Demirta\u015f continued to gather even more popularity and ran for the 2018 presidential elections while in prison.<\/p>\n

These wins sent shockwaves across an increasingly chauvinistic and anti-Kurdish Turkish society, which has caricatured the Kurds as backward, illiterate, and uncivilized \u2018mountain Turks.\u2019 For decades, consecutive Turkish governments weaponized xenophobia against the Kurds<\/a><\/span> for their own political gain, utilizing anti-Kurdish propaganda that increased racist and exclusionary values within a hyper-nationalist Turkish society.<\/p>\n

As Turkey became the world\u2019s largest jailer of journalists and political opponents, human rights organizations widely condemned Erdo\u011fan\u2019s enduring oppression of dissenting voices and his ongoing silencing of pro-democracy and human rights activists. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued a strong condemnation<\/a><\/span>, stating that the timing of Demirta\u015f\u2019s ongoing detention appears to coincide suspiciously with presidential elections and his political agenda. The ECHR demanded Demirta\u015f\u2019s immediate release and a compensation of 25,000 Euros, which was promptly ignored by the Turkish court, who deemed the decree as non-binding.<\/p>\n

Undeterred, the Council of Europe\u2019s Committee of Ministers in June 2023 pressed the Erdo\u011fan government to comply with the ECHR decree, yet both Demirta\u015f and Y\u00fcksekda\u011f remain behind bars. On the seventh anniversary of the politician\u2019s wrongful imprisonment in 2023, four major human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch (HRW), the International Commission of Jurists, the International Federation for Human Rights, and the Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project, collectively called for the immediate release of all Kurdish prisoners, but to no avail.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kurdish grandmothers demonstrate in Istanbul for the freedom of political prisoner Selahattin Demirta\u015f.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Demirta\u015f\u2019s Legacy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Demirta\u015f may very well spend the rest of his life languishing behind bars, just as another Kurdish leader Abdullah \u00d6calan already has for two and a half decades. The Turkish regime, under the authoritarian control of Erdo\u011fan<\/a><\/span> has increasingly moved towards greater cruelty, racism, and violence against minorities such as the Kurds, inside and outside of their borders. Yet, Demirta\u015f\u2019s potent political and democratic legacy serves as a formidable reminder of the unwavering capacity of the Kurds to continue demanding justice, peace, and human rights even as they remain tortured in prison cells and bombed across the region<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Along with \u00d6calan, Demirta\u015f is the alternative voice of a democratic and free Kurdish nation of occupied Northern Kurdistan in Turkey. It is no coincidence then that both \u00d6calan and Demirta\u015f and hundreds of other Kurdish leaders remain in prison, facing decades of exclusion from society and politics. Voices such as theirs represent an increasingly diminishing collective calling for human rights in Turkey. But as the farcical show trials against Kurdish politicians continue, the international community must continue demanding the release of all Kurdish political prisoners.<\/p>\n

Nobody should act like these proceedings are normal, reputable, or legitimate judicial procedures. They are merely symbolic theatrical productions, crafted for an increasingly fascistic domestic audience that takes glee in watching Kurdish suffering. Sadly, this is why they are mostly immune to the insightful soliloquies of Demirta\u015f or the profound philosophical ruminations of \u00d6calan, because they are not ready to hear or read the uncomfortable truth about what Turkey really is and always has been.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is it possible to shame a state who proudly celebrates their lack of moral conscience? The answer is being sought currently, as on Tuesday, the Erdo\u011fan regime in Turkey commenced their illegitimate show trial of Selahattin Demirta\u015f, the former co-chair of the People\u2019s Democratic Party (HDP). To his credit, Demirta\u015f mounted a powerful defense in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4332,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"jnews_post_split":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,61],"tags":[142,747,744,746,54,745,742,743],"ppma_author":[80],"class_list":["post-4327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","category-slider","tag-abdullah-ocalan","tag-bdp","tag-erdogan-regime","tag-figan-yuksekdag","tag-hdp","tag-kobane-trial","tag-selahattin-demirtas","tag-selo"],"authors":[{"term_id":80,"user_id":3,"is_guest":0,"slug":"hawzhin-azeez","display_name":"Hawzhin Azeez","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Hawzhin-7.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Hawzhin-7.jpg"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4327"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4348,"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4327\/revisions\/4348"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4327"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=4327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}