A court in the capital Ankara handed down prison terms to former officials of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) as well as current staff of its spiritual successor, Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), on Thursday in a trial over the “Kobani riots.”
A total of 108 defendants were on trial over the 2014 incidents provoked by the PKK. Some were already jailed over terrorism-related crimes.
Two days of riots in several Turkish cities led to the killings of 37 people, including Yasin Börü, a 16-year-old boy who was murdered while collecting donations in southeastern Türkiye. Börü has been a symbol of victims of violence.
Along with HDP officials, including its former co-Chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, fugitive leaders of PKK have been implicated in the case. The suspects were facing various charges, including murder, burning the Turkish flag, damaging prayer houses, abduction and damaging public property. During the riots, some 197 schools were burned down by rioters and another 269 public buildings were destroyed. Hundreds of vehicles were vandalized by rioters as well.
In October 2014, amid a Daesh siege on the PKK's Syrian affiliate, the YPG, on Ain al-Arab – or Kobani – Demirtaş and other HDP officials called for riots. In the events that would become known as the Oct. 6-7 Kobani protests, 37 people were killed and some 761 others were injured in clashes between pro-PKK and conservative Kurdish groups and security forces throughout Türkiye, especially in the southeast. Following the events, more than 1,600 investigations were launched, 894 suspects were detained and 386 were imprisoned. Eighteen of the 41 suspects were sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Yasin Börü and his friends.
A court on Thursday sentenced Ahmet Türk to 10 years in prison while Aysel Tuğluk, Altan Tan and Ayhan Bilgen were among other former HDP officials acquitted by the court. Emine Ayna, a former lawmaker like Türk, was also sentenced to 10 years in prison. Türk was elected mayor of the southeastern province of Mardin for the DEM Party in the March 31 municipal elections. Figen Yüksekdağ was sentenced to 30 years and three months in prison. Selahattin Demirtaş was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison.
