Gültan Kışanak to the court: Who are you to judge me?

2024-01-15 16:49:03


	 

	ANKARA - Politician Gültan Kışanak, who started her defense in the Kobanê Case, said: "You are trying to put a legal cover on the black propaganda of the AKP-MHP authoritarian regime. Who are you to judge me?" 

	 

	The lawsuit filed against 108 names, including the former Co-Chairs of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and members of the Central Executive Board (MYK), citing the protest actions against ISIS's attacks on Kobanê on 6-8 October 2014, continues. The case, publicly known as the Kobanê Case, in which 18 politicians were tried while imprisoned, is being heard in the hall at the Sincan Prison Campus. The imprisoned politicians were connected to the hearing via Audio and Video Information System (SEGBİS). People's Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Co-Chairs Tülay Hatimoğulları and Tuncer Bakırhan, as well as many representatives of legal and non-governmental organizations, watched the hearing.

	 

	LAWYER AYDIN'S REQUESTS

	 

	Lawyer Cihan Aydın asked why the chair of the hearing had not been in the courtroom for two weeks. The court board noted that the president has a 20-day report and will be at the hearing on Monday. Recalling former court minister Bahtiyar Çolak, who was revealed to be a member of the "Atadedeler Gang", Aydın said: "Let's not face another gang member incident again."

	 

	Aydın pointed to the digital document evidence in the file opened at the Malatya High Criminal Court and said that audio recordings, video recordings and digital recordings were not included in the file. Aydın said: "Neither your court, nor we, nor our client had the opportunity to directly contact this evidence. All digital evidence regarding the client must be requested from the relevant places. There is talk of a flash memory, and we have not seen that.”

	 

	Aydın said that the Kurdish expression "xwe parastin (defense oneself)", which Kışanak used at the March 8 event, was translated as "self-government" and was made the subject of an accusation in the file.

	 

	'SHE IS BEING HELD ILLEGALLY'

	 

	Aydın said: "There is no point in a trial without our demands being met. Police reports are not sufficient. We are aware that the other side of this case is the state. Therefore, police reports have no meaning."

	 

	Meanwhile, the presiding judge interrupted Aydın and said that Kışanak's defense must be started. Aydın reminded the court panel's previous interim decisions and asked, "How can the case be continued without expressing these demands?" The presiding judge replied, "We will evaluate it later."

	 

	Saying that it was against the principle of fair trial, Aydın reacted: "If you decide on the allegations, we will respond quickly. Kışanak has been held in prison unlawfully for 75 days. She is being held illegally. I presented you with a Constitutional Court decision, but the Constitutional Court decisions no longer have any meaning. You are trying to create a law of your own. If you say 'we don't know the Courts decisions', we don't know you either."

	 Aydın demanded the release of Kışanak.

	 

	AYDIN REQUESTED THE REJECTION OF THE COURT COMMITTEE

	 

	The prosecution, whose opinion was asked about the request for release, requested the rejection of the request, saying, "We have previously expressed our opinion." The court decided that "there is no need to decide on release."

	 

	Speaking after the decision, Aydın said, "Your panel is challenging the law and the Constitutional Court. This situation creates a serious consequence for our client. I am worried that you will conduct this trial fairly and honestly." Aydın requested the rejection of the court panel. 

	 

	KIŞANAK: I WILL TELL YOU HOW TO SOLVE THE KURDISH ISSUE

	 

	Gültan Kışanak, who attended the hearing from Kandıra Prison, started her speech by greeting everyone in the hall. Kışanak pointed out that the case has three main issues and said: "One is the Kurdish issue, the second is the women's freedom issue. In this case, women's freedom struggle has been made the subject of accusation. Thirdly, this case aims to eliminate democratic politics. You consider democratic politics a crime. You consider the rally and the press statement as crimes. All Kurd political parties have been considered as crimes in this opinion since 1990. Why are our works reflected as crimes? What is the Kurdish issue and how can it be solved? I was going to tell you these, but you are so reckless about illegality that I would like to say a few words about the procedure.

	 

	All summaries of proceedings sent to the Parliament arrived after my mandate ended. The investigation started in 2014-2015 and I am being tried without detention. What do you mean, you will investigate later? Your court president writes the decision while he is sick at home. It's not in the file. 90 percent of the allegations against me do not have a report sent to the Parliament on time. You cannot say, ‘You are not a deputy now, I can come back and do whatever I want.’ All the allegations against me were recorded simultaneously by the police and they are in their possession. It is in the hands of those who made the decisions to wiretap this environment, disregarding my immunity. You come and go, go through the reports of the coup plotter police officers and put them in front of me. You call this a fair trial. I have been before the judiciary for 10 years. There is no court or prosecutor left that I have not appeared before. Now you say, 'We will look at them later.' Since you know that those summaries of proceedings do not exist, you are lying on them.

	 

	WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE ME?

	 

	I have no activity that cannot be defended. I am a woman who has never hit anyone or encouraged anyone to commit crime in my life. Who are you to judge me? We have been saying since day one that 'I spoke directly at the special session held in the Parliament in 2009.' Regarding the issues related to the Kurdish issue, I took a promise on 23 April and 29 October. I said, 'Let's solve it within democracy', but you don't pay attention. You don't look at any of my group conversations, but 'Kışanak wanted a referendum on the mother tongue. That's why you accuse me by saying 'she wants to establish an independent Kurdistan'. I presented a bill on this issue in that Parliament, what do you consider a crime? You know all this, so you don't look at legislative irresponsibility. You did it knowingly and the prosecutor wrote the confession to this in his opinion. He said, ‘Her statement was taken in 2020 after his immunity was abolished.’ Are you currently judging me for the 8 news articles published in ANF?

	 

	YOU SET UP A PLAN

	 

	Where is the merged file? You set up a conspiracy. You have invented new unlawful acts to keep more people in prison. 'Police reports are evidence unless proven otherwise,' says the prosecutor. Who will prove otherwise? Me? Will the women politician you have been holding in prison for 8 years prove this? This is not a criminal charge as in the rule of law. These are criminal accusations in the inquisition court. Almost all of the allegations against me in this opinion are based solely on the fabricated reports of the coup police. There is one photo there. Minutes are laid underneath. Where are their images? Is there any logic to this? There is not even a CD of the speech I gave at Diyarbakır Newroz. And you say, 'this is legal evidence.' What will I believe?

	 

	YOU ARE TRYING TO COVER LIES

	 

	The law is clear. The longest detention period is 7 years. You tried to make it in vain by writing a two-month detention period. We proved it with documents. 'You have been judging for 3 years. We ask, ‘When did you include me in this trial?’ You can't even answer this. You know it very well, but you are trying to put a legal cover on the black propaganda of the AKP-MHP authoritarian regime. There are lies they tell in the election arenas, and you are trying to disguise them as law. So, there is nothing you don't know. You continue to do it knowingly. We object in order not to be a party to these unlawful acts. I reject you. I don't believe you gave a fair trial. It is clear that you are a specially authorized, commissioned committee."

	 

	REJECTION OF JUDGE REQUEST

	 

	Afterwards, lawyer Aydın made another statement, read the conditions of the judge's rejection and said: “You are wrong. You have to make a decision." The presiding judge decided to reject the request.

	 

	The hearing was adjourned.