The trial of 50 people arrested during the resistance actions against the Turkish police and military attacks on the city of Nusaybin in 2016.

The third hearing was held today at the Social Security Institution (SGK) Conference Room, where an old woman from a 10-members family was not allowed to enter. The family allowed in, all Kurdish speaking, were told “to speak Turkish” by police. The families answered they didn’t know Turkish. A prisoner making the victory sign with his fingers was threatened by a law enforcement office who was next to him and said he would kill him.

In this environment the hearing begun.  Zehra Kaya stated that she had testified before and therefore would not make any declaration at this hearing.

When Dilber Tanrikulu warned that the Kurdish defense was not properly translated, the interpreter said, "I am not going to make any translation, we cannot agree". On top of that, the court President told Tanrıkulu that his Turkish was good and that he needed to make his defence in Turkish. When Tanrıkulu said that he did not want to make the defence in Turkish, the president of the court replied that if that was the case they would considered him to have invoked his right to remain silence. "I want to make a defense in Kurdish, I do not want to use my right to remain silent”, said Tanrıkulu.

Ferhat Doğru said that he had been subjected to verbal and physical torture by the soldiers. He stated that he had stayed at home wounded for a while before being taken to a basement. He said:

"My family had gone to Midyat before the curfew was imposed. I was going with them, but then when they imposed the curfew I stayed in. I got wounded by bullets I did not even know where they came from. I did not know anyone, I don’t know who I testified against: the police tortured me and forced me to make statements.

In Nusayibin there was a popular reality: the people demanded self-government and resisted. You have to judge the fascist mentality and the AKP regime, not the self-government or the people. Kurdish people have always resisted to these massacres that have gone on for hundreds of years. That's what we are doing today. No power has the right to deny this resistance."

Nurullah Akyüz said in his defense:

“The statements I made before are not true. I have been exposed to verbal and physical torture while in custody, and I have been exposed to fascism by the state. They have broken my back with torture, but have not given me a medical report. This is why, because of the torture, I made the earlier statements. Now I will reject these statements and accusation. I was born in a village that belongs to Idil and our village has been burned and destroyed so we had to migrate to foreign lands. We did not know their language nor their culture. I went to school without knowing their language and faced assimilation politics.

The Kurdish People's Leader Mr. Abdullah Öcalan was a great hope for the Turkish people when he announced a ceasefire. Those who did not want the brotherhood of the peoples and the powers of the state that wanted to continue the war, organised the murders of three Kurdish women in Paris in 2013. With the killing of these three politicians they wanted to end the process.

The solution proposal put forward by Mr Abdullah Öcalan showed that there could be a process leading to a peaceful life in the country. This process, although it finished, represented the symbol of peace and brotherhood of the peoples.

The building of new police stations, the increasing of armament show that the state was preparing for even a bigger war”.

The Turkish state had imposed a curfew on Nusaybin (Mardin) on 14 March 2016. The city was attacked by Turkish police and military units and almost razed to the ground.