SULAIMANI (ESTA) — A Turkish court on Monday opened the trial of dozens of members of the Democratic Peoples’ Party (HDP) over protests which broke out during an Islamic State (ISIS) assault on the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani in 2014.
Thirty-seven people died in the protests, which were triggered by accusations that the Turkish military stood by the ISIS militants besieged Kobani, according to Reuters.
As many as 108 defendants, including former HDP leader Selahattin Demirtas, are charged with 37 counts of homicide and disrupting the unity and territorial integrity of the state.
The indictment accuses the defendants of instigating the demonstrations. HDP denies the accusations.
“We will invalidate this conspiracy case, enlarge the fight for democracy, spoil the political power’s calculations and will certainly save this country from this authoritarian attack all together,” Reuters quoted HDP co-leader Mithat Sancar as saying.
The HDP won 11.7% support, or nearly 6 million votes, in a 2018 general election.
The HDP, Turkey’s third-largest party, has come under increasing pressure from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party (AKP) and its Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) allies in recent years.
In March, a top prosecutor had filed a lawsuit demanding a ban on the HDP for alleged ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), as well as a five-year political ban on more than 600 members of the party.
The indictment was sent back on procedural grounds but can be re-submitted. The HDP denies the charges.
