Investigation launched for HDP’s Demirtaş’s role in Kobani riots


The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in eastern province of Diyarbakır has launched an investigation on pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chairman Selahattin Demirtaş on Thursday over the crime of provoking the society in Kobani protests of October 2014, which led to the death of 35 people.The investigation is being carried out over the offenses against public peace, and Demirtaş is being accused with breaching Article 214/2 of the Turkish Penal Code, which foresees "any person who arms a group against another group, or provokes to kill a person is punished with imprisonment from fifteen years to twenty-four years."If the prosecutor's office decides legal elements of the crime has occurred, it will demand Turkey's Parliament for Demirtaş's political immunity to be removed, which will be decided through a general assembly vote.As northern Syrian border town of Kobani was under siege by ISIS, HDP officials called for a mass protest on October 6, claiming government's impartial stance on the siege.Illegal protests broke out in 35 provinces, which turned into armed clashes between pro-PKK groups and Free Cause Party supporters in southeastern provinces, reviving a bloody feud among two groups from the 1990's. 33 civilians and two police officers died, while 221 civilians and 139 police officers were injured in the two-day rioting, not to mention thousands of attacked public buildings and vehicles.