HDP Co-chair Demirtaş stated that Davutoğlu must be put on trial because the police officer that killed the Russian Ambassador was hired and Kurdish cities were destroyed when he was the Prime Minister.
The second hearing in the trial of HDP Co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş’s speech during a public meeting on February 2, 2016, was held at the 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance today. HDP Mardin Parliamentarian Erol Dora, lawyers and many other civilians participated in the hearing.
Demirtaş joined the hearing from Edirne F Type Closed Prison through the SEGBİS system and said that his trial could not be just not because he and other HDP parliamentarians were declared as guilty through a public propaganda before the trial. Demirtaş recalled that they had stated that they could not testify under these circumstances, not because they were scared but because they rejected the way AKP prosecuted them.
“PRO-GÜLEN PROSECUTORS PREPARED THE SUMMARIES OF PROCEEDINGS”
Demirtaş stated that the nearly 500 summaries of proceedings against HDP parliamentarians were prepared by pro-Gülen prosecutors, and recalled that President Erdoğan said his son Bilal Erdoğan would not go and testify when prosecutors summoned him. Demirtaş stated that MİT president Hakan Fidan did not testify either when prosecutors summoned him, and recalled that Erdoğan said that he did not accept or respect the Constitutional Court’s decision regarding Can Dündar. He refused the claims that unlike these acts, HDP parliamentarians’ actions challenge the courts and the judiciary system.
“DAVUTOĞLU IS RESPONSIBLE”
HDP Co-chair said the followings in his statement:
"The accusations directed at me in the indictment are all related with my remarks critical of the government. These remarks constitute political criticism. In my speech, I criticize a political and administrative decision of the government, expose it in the public and point at the right thing that needs to be done. The Parliament is the supervisor of the executive authority. Very critical mistakes were made in the politics administered by Ahmet Davutoğlu. However, those days were times when discussions were being held on PKK's giving an ultimate end to all of its armed and unarmed acts of violence against Turkey.
In Cizre, Şırnak, Nusaybin, Sur as well as some other cities and towns, operations that caused the death of civilians and erasure of our cities from the map were ordered during Davutoğlu administration. Besides, most of the top police chiefs that executed these political decisions are those that are now jailed due to the coup attempt.
The press statement and speech I made that day are sincere criticism towards the mistakes made back then. It is rather the Davutoğlu-led government and then-on duty officials that must be put on trial."
MURDER OF THE AMBASSADOR
Demirtaş also mentioned the assassination of Russian Ambassador Andrey Karlov in Ankara yesterday, stressing that the assassin was a police officer that was hired during the rule of Ahmet Davutoğlu who ordered the downing of the Russian jet, and brought up the removal of immunities in the parliament with a proposal that went against the constitution. Preparations for the appointment of trustees to DBP municipalities and arrest of politicians were made during the term of Davutoğlu when also Turkey faced with the severest problems of its history."
"WE WILL OVERCOME THIS CONSPIRACY"
Drawing attention to the historical co-existence of the Kurdish and Turkish peoples, Demirtaş said:
"Our common future will be determined by uniting around democracy and principles of human rights rather than uniting around one single party and political leader.
The city of Şırnak has been erased from the map, while half of Cizre and Nusaybin towns has been destroyed as well. There is one single person prosecuted for all these; me. This indictment is not an accusation but a phase of Davutoğlu's plan to realize the Neo-Ottoman policy he had planned in his mind. It is Davutoğlu and the government that must be put on trial. We will continue to give a struggle for freedom, equality and justice. We will join hands with every political structure that understands us as we are, and we will overcome this conspiracy. We will never lose our faith in the future just because these lawsuits were filed and these unlawful arrests were executed."
The court board postponed the next hearing to March 28, 2017.
