In 2014, Enwer Muslim took part in the defense of his hometown of Kobanê against the Islamic State. The lawyer is now co-chair of the Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM) in the Euphrates Canton. He spoke to ANF about the Draconian verdicts in the show trial in Ankara known as the Kobanê trial. In the trial that lasted several years, 24 defendants, including the former HDP chairmen Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş, were sentenced to a total of over 400 years in prison a week ago due to their solidarity with the resistance in Kobanê.

Muslim explained that ISIS suffered its first defeat in Kobanê. "A democratic project was implemented in the city and the brotherhood of the peoples was achieved. This is the background to the trial in Turkey: the AKP/MHP government wanted to break this will with the Kobanê trial, but it still hasn't understood what tradition the resistance is based on. The Kurdish people have not allowed themselves to be brought to their knees for over a hundred years and will not continue to do so."

International solidarity was condemned

However, the process was not only directed against the Kurdish resistance, said Muslim, adding: "The Kurdish question is the main problem in Turkey. The Kobanê process does not just affect one people. It concerns all of humanity, because the resistance with which the entire world was defended against ISIS was condemned. The people of Bakur [North Kurdistan] were the first to support Kobanê back then. It was a great support. People stood guard at the border and intervened at the political and diplomatic levels. They defended Kobanê. With Kobanê, humanity was defended."

Lack of international reaction

The International Coalition against ISIS, which now consists of 76 states, closely followed the resistance in Kobanê at the time, said Muslim, adding: "The International Coalition was founded because ISIS was seen as a dangerous terrorist organization. The people convicted in Turkey did not remain silent about this terror, they resisted and were by our side the entire time. So why is the International Coalition, which was in Kobanê at the time, silent about the condemnations in Ankara? Why does she approve of these rulings?"

Trial as part of an extermination concept

Enwer Muslim studied law in Aleppo and worked as a lawyer in Kobanê for many years. For him there is no question that the Kobanê trial is a political procedure without a legal basis. "The Turkish government acts according to the principle of eliminating all dissidents. The reasoning behind the sentence is not based on any law. In the process, justice, democracy, equality and free life were liquidated. International human rights organizations would have to react much more radically to the verdict. The one-man regime in Turkey considers democracy to be dangerous. The Turkish state continues to attack our region because it fears democracy and the brotherhood of peoples. The people who supported our resistance back then are in prison as political hostages. At the same time, the site of resistance is being attacked without interruption. The Turkish state’s measures are not independent of each other; they follow a concept of extermination."