The hearing of the Kobanê Conspiracy Case continued with the statements of Selahattin Demirtaş, former Co-Chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, HDP.

Demirtaş stated that Erdoğan in his speeches gave the number of people who lost their lives in the Kobanê protests as 30, 40, 50, 51 and 53 people, but he only used the name Yasin Börü. "Is he concerned with Yasin Börü? No, he only wants votes. He doesn't know any other name. It is not important to him. The information he has given is false anyway. He does not care about this either."

Demirtaş said, "Apparently, the word that I would be released was not in accordance with the rule of law, but his word 'I will never release Selo' was."

The pressure on the Constitutional Court is directed towards the possible decision to be taken for me. (...)

In order to lift our immunity, they made a constitutional amendment with the technique of amending the law.

They detained us unlawfully while our immunity continued."

Demirtaş further stated the following:

"Öcalan is a person who digs a well with a needle for the sake of peace. They are writing in the partisan press about an Öcalan-Demirtaş conflict. If this is the case, why is Öcalan in isolation? Öcalan is not an ordinary person, that's why you locked him in an island prison. The law of execution, the law of visitation… None of these are applied to Öcalan. Abdullah Öcalan is not an ordinary person, the Republic of Turkey knows this. Then he should not be treated as ordinary. Neither our people nor our party should be treated as ordinary. Öcalan is a political actor.”

Referring to the most recently announced deaths of 12 Turkish soldiers in battle with the guerrillas, Demirtaş said: “The bodies of 12 young men have just been delivered. I'm sure he (Öcalan) is tearing his hair out, saying, 'Why don't they let me get in the way to prevent this?’ Why don't they allow it? Because they don't want deaths to end. All of us, including me, want to meet with Öcalan. We want to meet with him, even from here, via SEGBİS (video conferencing system). All of our MPs have applied for a meeting. Give them permission to do so. Peace requires sacrifice, it requires courage. The Interior Minister of this country said on Twitter, 'Demirtaş, I will bring your brother in a yellow bag' (body bag). Normally we should go crazy, but if we keep our common sense, it is because of the political decency we have received.”

Demirtaş continued: I've appealed many times. Let me meet Öcalan on İmralı and tell him everything I know. You can even go there as the president of the country. Here you are, 'Mr President', Mr Öcalan and me. Let the three of us come together, let's talk and see who answers to whom. I issued an appeal. Two years have passed since, and I am still waiting. The President of a country did it, too. In order to win elections, the president also made this sentence. I am still waiting. Let's discuss together who finished what in the solution process, who is responsible for the bloodshed. I am ready. Start talks with Öcalan and if he is to call someone to account, let us see who will hold me, the people, the politicians and you to account, and who will answer to whom. Let's discuss the facts on İmralı if you want. I am ready. Let's see who is guilty and who is strong. Let's discuss your lies and slander together on İmralı."

The hearing was adjourned until tomorrow.

The Kobanê Case

The Kobanê Case was filed in 2020 against 108 people, including the HDP’s former co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, several current and former HDP deputies and mayors, and all the members of the HDP’s Central Executive Board of 2014.

The case was launched as a counter move by the Turkish government just two weeks after the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights made its final judgment demanding the immediate release of Selahattin Demirtaş. The indictment in the Kobanê Case is based on a Twitter message posted by the HDP on 6 October 2014. The message called for democratic protests in solidarity with the people of Kobanê, the Kurdish town in Northern Syria that was fighting against the attacks of ISIS, and also against Turkey’s embargo on the town. The prosecutor is calling for all the defendants to be given aggravated life sentences (without parole) 38 times for the crimes of “destroying the unity of the state and the integrity of the country” and “premeditated murder” of the people who lost their lives in the Kobanê protests. Seventeen politicians are currently being held in pre-trial detention for this case.

The Kobanê case is closely linked with the closure case filed against the HDP, for which it serves as a pretext. In the closure case, the prosecution is mainly based on the alleged role and responsibility of the HDP in the murders that occurred during the Kobanê protests in 2014. 

Selahattin Demirtaş, who led the HDP's gender-parity dual leadership together with Turkish politician Figen Yüksekdağ between 2014 and 2018, has been innocently held in Edirne prison since 2016. While the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has already demanded his release several times, the Turkish government ignores the corresponding rulings.

Figen Yüksekdağ is the co-founder of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) and was its chair until September 2014. After resigning from office, she joined the HDP. In the same year, the ESP joined the HDP, which acts as an umbrella party for several small parties. At the second HDP congress, Figen Yüksekdağ was elected HDP's co-chair on 22 June 2014. Together with the other co-chair, Selahattin Demirtaş, and numerous other HDP deputies, she was arrested on 4 November 2016 at the instigation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Since then, she has been held in custody in the Kandıra High Security Prison.