Lawyer says KCK case overshadowed

DİYARBAKIR - Doğan News Agency (DHA)

DHA photo

One of the defense lawyers in the ongoing Kurdistan Communities Union/Turkey Council (KCK/TM) trial yesterday requested a criminal complaint against Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay for his earlier comments on the case.

“The legislation has overshadowed the judiciary with Atalay’s statement. We expect the court to take a stance against this. We demand a criminal complaint be filed,” said Mehmet Emin Aktar, head of the Diyarbakır Bar Association and one of the defense lawyers in the KCK probe. The court, however, turned down his request. 

Some 96 suspects attended yesterday’s hearing in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, while Selahattin Demirtaş, co-leader of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), Muş deputy Sırrı Sakık and independent deputies Ahmet Türk, Aysel Tuğluk and Pervin Buldan were also present in the courtroom. 

“If a ruling for [the suspects’] release comes about, [the decision] will emanate from Ankara. If a permit is issued to allow for a plea in one’s mother tongue, [the decision] will emanate from Ankara. As such, the hearings here are just for show,” Demirtaş said. 

Some 152 suspects, 104 of them arrested pending trial, are currently facing charges in the main KCK/TM probe, the 30th hearing of which was held yesterday. 
“It is a pity for the judges and prosecutors here. They have no powers. They cannot even pass verdicts. The judiciary is being held under a great tutelage,” Demirtaş said. 
“Cross-border and KCK operations have been debated, planned and are being executed in coordination,” Atalay had said according to Aktar. 
Defense lawyer Sabahattin Acar also said Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç had also said Kurds were entitled to certain rights and claimed the court had to accept a plea in the Kurdish language for this reason. 
“These remarks bear no relevance to us. We do not feel anybody’s pressure upon us,” Chief Judge Menderes Yılmaz said in reply to the defense lawyers’ requests. 
The court rejected the defense lawyers’ request for a plea in Kurdish to be issued and moved on to reading about evidence pertaining to suspect Adnan Bayram. The defense lawyers, in turn, indicated the evidence in question had been unlawfully obtained.
The KCK is the alleged urban wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Union (PKK,) which is recognized by the United States, the European Union and Turkey as a terrorist group.