KCK trial to resume in Istanbul
KCK trial to resume in Istanbul
The hearing of 17 jailed Kurdish politicians will be held at Istanbul 23rd High Criminal Court on Thursday. The file of 17 politicians has recently been separated from the file of the case against 39 Kurdish politicians, 31 of whom are jailed, who are accused of taking part at the “leadership committee” of the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) organization.
39 Kurdish politicians, including Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputy co-chair Fatma Kurtalan, BDP Central Executive Board member and DEHAP former chair Tuncer Bakýrhan, BDP Party Council members and city council members, were taken into custody in a series of simultaneous raids in 17 provinces on 13 January. Among them 31 were sent to prison for allegedly being “executives and members of KCK organization”. The indictment against 17 among them has been prepared only recently in the last ten months, while no official written accusation has been presented yet for 22 others on the grounds that the investigation is still going on.
The first 136 pages of the 238 paged indictment consists of quoted passages from PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) congresses, BDP deputies' statements to the press, KCK agreement and PKK's history. Even phone conversations of BDP members and news published on the media about BDP were put forward as criminal evidences.
In the indictment, the prosecutor leading the investigation assesses BDP members' participation to party meetings and activities as “crime” and makes the following evaluation as to the political activities of 17 politicians; “It is understood that the suspects were involved in a series of activities of KCK Istanbul organization in consideration that they attended organizational meetings, took part in so-called “judiciary” branch of the organization and collected money on behalf of the organization.”
39 Kurdish politicians, including Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputy co-chair Fatma Kurtalan, BDP Central Executive Board member and DEHAP former chair Tuncer Bakýrhan, BDP Party Council members and city council members, were taken into custody in a series of simultaneous raids in 17 provinces on 13 January. Among them 31 were sent to prison for allegedly being “executives and members of KCK organization”. The indictment against 17 among them has been prepared only recently in the last ten months, while no official written accusation has been presented yet for 22 others on the grounds that the investigation is still going on.
The first 136 pages of the 238 paged indictment consists of quoted passages from PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) congresses, BDP deputies' statements to the press, KCK agreement and PKK's history. Even phone conversations of BDP members and news published on the media about BDP were put forward as criminal evidences.
In the indictment, the prosecutor leading the investigation assesses BDP members' participation to party meetings and activities as “crime” and makes the following evaluation as to the political activities of 17 politicians; “It is understood that the suspects were involved in a series of activities of KCK Istanbul organization in consideration that they attended organizational meetings, took part in so-called “judiciary” branch of the organization and collected money on behalf of the organization.”
