Demirtaş: Millions of people declared Abdullah Öcalan as leader of the people

2024-01-08 18:03:47


	ANKARA - Continuing his defense in the Kobanê Case, Selahattin Demirtaş said: "Whether a person is accepted as a leader by the people is a matter of political criticism and debate. But it cannot be a matter of judgment. Millions of people, not me, declared Öcalan the leader of the people."

	An indictment was filed against 108 politicians, 18 of whom were imprisoned, including the former Co-Chairs of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and members of the Central Executive Board (MYK), citing the protest actions that happened on 6-8 October 2014 against ISIS's attacks on Kobanê, continues by Ankara 22nd High Criminal Court at Sincan Prison Campus. Many people watched the hearing, as well as deputies from the People's Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) and lawyers who are members of the Lawyers Association for Freedom (ÖHD).

	 

	Imprisoned politicians Sebahat Tuncel, Günay Kubilay, Ali Ürküt, Nazmi Gür and Bülent Parmaksız were present in the courtroom. Other politicians were attended to the hearing via the Audio and Video Information System (SEGBİS).

	 

	The hearing continued with the defense of former HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş on the merits.

	 

	HOW CAN SAYING ' LEADER OF THE KURDS' BE PRAISING THE CRIMINAL?'

	 

	Referring to the summaries of proceedings against him and the combined indictments, Demirtaş stated that the summary number 19 was prepared about a speech regarding PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan. Demirtaş said: "We held a long press conference. While Newroz preparations were being made in Diyarbakır, Turkish and Kurdish billboards were prepared, but the governorship banned the ones in Kurdish. At the same time, there is a governor's decision to ban Newroz. By making a press statement, we defended Newroz and Kurdish. We have expressed our reactions towards Öcalan. In my defenses at the 19th High Criminal Court for years, our political thoughts, political criticisms and views have been criticized. How does addressing Abdullah Öcalan as 'Mr. Leader of The Kurds' mean praising the criminal? Let's discuss this. Whether a person is accepted as a leader by the people is a matter of political criticism and debate. But it cannot be a matter of judgment. Millions of people, not me, declared Öcalan the leader of the people"

	 

	THE PROSECUTOR CANNOT MAKE THIS A SUBJECT OF ACCUSEMENT

	 

	Pointing out that the Ankaragücü Sports Club president who punched the referee, MHP gang leaders and those who punched Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu were praised, Demirtaş said: "Or praising Abdullah Alpdoğan, one of the commanders who organized the Dersim Massacre, for this action is praising the crime and the criminal. Praising Topal Osman, praising a hitman means praising the crime and the criminal. We embrace the peace initiatives when we mention the Leader of The Kurds Mr. Abdullah Öcalan in our speeches. Öcalan has had peace initiatives since 1993. Outside, the state accepts as interlocutor, We are talking about someone whom, state officials say 'Mr Öcalan'. A strange lynching culture has formed in Turkey. It is a shame not to address someone in English as 'Mr.' When I say Öcalan in my conversations abroad, the translator translates it as 'Mr. Öcalan'. It is related to the character of the language. This is the crisis. The reason why it has turned into a crime is the Kurdish issue. This may be a political criticism, we respect it. We are not going to impose that everyone will accept it just because we said Mr. Öcalan, but the prosecutor cannot make this an accusation.

	 

	LET US DECIDE WHO TO CALL MR.

	 

	Let us decide who to call 'Mr.' Is it a crime to call Kenan Evren 'Mr.'? They named the school after Esat Oktay Yıldıran. The most criticism can be made to us, and we can give our answer. If the prosecutor is going to argue with this summary about whether Öcalan is a Leader of The Kurds or not, then they must get an expert report. The petitions submitted by millions of people on this issue are in the parliamentary archives. I am not the person who declared Abdullah Öcalan the Leader of The Kurds. Millions of people declared Öcalan as the People's Leader. Millions of people have campaigned many times to say 'meet him and solve our issue'. It is a traumatic case that prosecutors and courts make this a crime. Does a self-confident state deal with these? 'Why did you say Mr.? Why did you say Leader of The Kurds?' There is a huge centuries-old issue. Instead of discussing its content, 'why did you say 'Mr.'? These expressions are completely within the scope of freedom of expression.

	 

	I AM BEING JUDGED FOR SAYING KURDISTAN

	 

	Now some people say, 'Demirtaş said, Kurd, Kurdistan'. I am here defending the speeches I have made for years. Some may be hearing it for the first time, but we are not saying Kurds or Kurdistan for the first time. I am being tried here for saying Kurdistan, for saying Kurd. I am on trial for nearly 50 of my speeches. All of these are related to the Kurdish issue. I have been here for 7 years in my 12-year parliamentary duty. Did I speak 50 times? No, I have at least a thousand speeches. Only the speeches in which I mentioned Kurd, Kurdistan and Öcalan were made the subject of accusation. I also spoke very harshly about the Soma Massacre, why wasn't a lawsuit filed? Because there is no Kurd in it.”

	 

	ÖCALAN IS STRUGGLING FOR PEACE

	 

	I do not want to express here what the government officials said about Öcalan during the solution process, because I do not get my legitimacy from them and there. But the ultimate hypocrisy... What praise did they give to Öcalan? I say these because I believe. When I met with Öcalan in İmralı, I called him Leader. If you are blaming; Bring him here and judge him. Öcalan is trying for peace, I witnessed this. He thinks about the future of this country more than many nationalists and racists in this country.

	 

	MAZLUM DOĞAN IS THE LEGENDARY NAME WHO RESISTED TORTURE

	 

	How can the victory sign be included in propaganda or how can we make it not be included in terrorist organization propaganda? According to the prosecutor, some of them are not considered terrorist organization propaganda. The prosecutor assigned me the duty of government commissioner and expected me to disperse the crowd. Did I look like a government commissioner? That's a ridiculous claim. The prosecutor interpreted my words, 'Young people, I know you are passionate about heights' as me encouraging young people to climb mountains. This is such a forced report. I made a statement about Mazlum Doğan. Newroz is commemorated with Mazlum Doğan; because Mazlum Doğan protested Esat Oktay’s tortures on Newroz. Mazlum Doğan has become legendary and is described as the modern Kawa. Mazlum Doğan is the legendary name of the 80s who resisted torture. If it is a crime to say that Mazlum Doğan's resistance to torture is respectable, advocating the opposite is defending torture. It is to defend Esat Oktay. Why was the prosecutor disturbed by my defense of Mazlum Doğan? What exactly is the prosecutor advocating? Does prosecutor mean that the Republic of Turkey also practices torture? Thousands of people were tortured at that time. It was those tortures that led the PKK to use weapons. It is not we who take people to the mountains, but those tortures.

	 

	THOSE WHO DEFEND ESAT OKTAY YILDIRAN MUST BE TRIED

	 

	There is hypocrisy here too; The Republic of Turkey does not face this sincerely. Diyarbakır Prison was turned into a museum and the government is proud of it. Ahmet Türk is among those who were tortured there, Ahmet Tan's father is among those who were tortured there, Gültan Kışanak is among those who were subjected to the heaviest torture there. Mazlum Doğan is one of those who resist. When we talk about Mazlum Doğan's resistance, it becomes a crime, but when we talk about Gültan Kışanak's resistance, it does not become a crime. On what basis does the prosecutor distinguish these? Is it a crime for Mazlum Doğan to be a Kurd from Karakoçan who lost his life against torture? If someone is going to be judged; Those who defend Esat Oktay Yıldıran must be tried. The subject of trial here is ‘Kurdish consciousness’. Newroz is not the subject of trial. If we had celebrated Newroz, it would not have been a matter of blame. Then they wouldn't have accused us of commemorating Mazlum Doğan. What disturbs the prosecutor is the spirit of resistance of Newroz. It is not me who sends young people to the mountains, but the prosecutors and the courts themselves, and those who block politics."

	 

	'LET'S GO ON TV AND TALK ABOUT THE TRUTH'

	 

	Stating that Kurd politicians were tried for saying "Leader of The Kurds" during the KCK trials and that he criticized this in a speech, Demirtaş said: "We are being tried because of our speeches.” 

	Reading a speech he made in 2012, which was the subject of the report. Demirtaş continued as follows: "They are asking,  ‘Your brother there has a country called Kurdistan, will you accept it?’ They say we will return the old names of every place; Tunceli will be Dersim. So, we are asking whether Kurdistan will be Kurdistan. After all these years, we are talking about the same things here. The right to engage in politics can only be like this. It is normal for a minister to come forward and say to those who want a caliphate. It is normal, we have done that too, federation, state and autonomy are administrative models. If we do not discuss these, what will we do?

	 

	SOMEONE NEEDS TO TELL THE TRUTH

	 

	They really want us to go up the mountain. We trust our party's program, we trust ourselves. I am calling on Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Devlet Bahçeli, Meral Akşener, Ümit Özdağ, all the political leaders of the nationalist front, to meet on a live broadcast. Let the conditions be equal, let us defend our ideas, and let them say what they want. I claim that at the end of the program, what democratic autonomy is will be understood much better. They can't deal with us on this. What can they do, they can only manipulate. Putting judicial pressure on us is also cowardice. One side will use all kinds of facilities, televisions and broadcasts, but the other side will be deprived of all these. And put judicial pressure on them and arrest them. How will the truth be understood? No one explains it, the Kurds explain their own issues. We are telling, the socialists who act with us are telling. Even socialists and communists other than us do not explain it. We cannot explain it, others cannot explain it, how will the truth be understood? How will the issue of guns and violence be overcome without understanding the truth? These discussions are not in courtrooms. When we explained it with limited resources, it became clear what the Kurds were going through. Among them, there are academicians and educated people. Because they don't investigate, someone needs to tell the truth here.

	 

	IF YOU DID NOT BANN KURDISTAN, WE WOULD NOT TALK ABOUT THESE

	 

	We are one people, we are different nationality. If we are not oppressed, if our language and culture are not suppressed, we will not feel the need to express these things. We don't even mention it at all. We are not crazy people who always go around saying 'Kurd, Kurdish'. We do not do things like 'If you are a Kurd, brag, if you are not, obey'. We are talking about these; Because you banned the language of the Kurds. If you don't ban it, we won't talk about it either. Don't ask us about this, go back and ask your state. Ask, 'Why did you ban their language, why did you ban calling them Kurd or Kurdistan?' I call out to the prosecutors; File a lawsuit against our conversations about ecology, fisheries and other areas. You do not sue them, and people think that we are only speak about the Kurds and Kurdish. File a lawsuit against them and let's talk about them too. But Kurdish is still prohibited, education is already prohibited. We have a larger population than all other European states except the major European states such as Germany, France and England, but our name is not mentioned in the legislation. It is only mentioned in summaries of proceedings and indictments. Why do we feel guilty when we say these things, but why does it not become racist when we mention a skullduggery like Nihal Atsız? The man measured the skulls of 84 thousand people. He said 'I am a racist'.

	 

	IN YOUR OPINION, IF THE QUESTION IS COMPLETED, THE REST IS A DETERMINATION

	 

	A racist journalist wrote recently: 'Demirtaş has gone crazy, he is talking about the Kurdish anthem' etc. said. My friends brought it and I read it. Well, I did not compose this anthem from prison, I did not determine the borders of Kurdistan. That anthem has been around for 80 years, since the Republic of Mahabad. But they are ignorant. They don't read, they don't know. Go to a Kurdistan region and see what flag is waving there, what anthem is being sung? While you're there, ask the chamber of commerce in Hewlêr for a list of trading companies. 80 percent of them were MHP members, had crescent moustaches, monograms and rings, and wrote Kurdistan Regional Presidency on their documents. They write this at the bottom of their letterhead. There is Kurdistan when taking the money, but talking about these things here is a crime. They say Kurdistan while taking away millions of dollars, but they return to Ankara and lynch anyone who says Kurdistan. Is 10 million dollars more valuable than your nationalism? You know, you said that if the country is what is at stake, the rest is just details, but in your opinion, if what is at stake is the country, the rest is just details.

	 

	DILDAR WROTE THE KURDISH NATIONAL ANTHEM, NOT DEMİRTAŞ

	 

	I did not write the Kurdish National Anthem, ‘Ey Reqîb’. Dildar wrote in Mahabad prison in 1946. I guess they got confused from there, they think Demirtaş wrote it when he is in prison. There have been Kurds for a thousand years. Kurds did not come to Turkey on June 20, 2015. We are trying to explain that denying this is a crime. Kurds have a language. My mother and grandparents do not know Turkish well. How will they feel if you ban their language or insult them? The Kurdish language is disappearing with assimilation in the new generation. Kurds protect their language as a matter of honor. It is necessary to introduce quotas for all ministries. It is necessary to recruit civil servants who speak Kurdish. They do not do this, on the contrary, They criminalizes those who speak Kurdish. Look at the studies on Turkish, there are dozens of institutions doing research and carrying out studies. So why don't you work on Kurdish? Kurds also pay taxes, why doesn't this state serve me? I pay for it. Why doesn't this state serve Alevis and the Kurds? These are discrimination. All Kurdish rebellions emerged due to this discrimination. We express this. We see the issue as a issue of violence and we are trying to prevent it. When we say this, they blame us, then when the young people see this, they go to the mountains. It is these policies of the state that brought the PKK to the mountains. Not me. It is the state that must reverse these policies.

	 

	I WAS MEETING FACE TO FACE WITH LEADER APO AND TRANSMITTING MY GREETINGS DIRECTLY.

	 

	My words 'Greetings to Leader Apo' were made the subject of accusation. The prosecutor may not know, but I was already meeting with Leader Apo face to face and conveying my greetings directly. Again, my words about PYD were made the subject of accusations. Davutoğlu was meeting with PYD at that time. What needs to be done is to hold the Kurds' hands. It is Davutoğlu who shouts the war cry here. It is Demirtaş who holds the hand of peace. but the accused is Demirtaş. PYD moved to the west of the Euphrates, was it bad? Now there is a turn from Killer Assad to brother Assad. What was right was our attitude, what was wrong was the policies pursued that day. At that time, I said go and see if PYD had crossed to the west of the Euphrates and Davutoğlu was staring blankly at that time. If PYD passed and Davutoğlu looked blankly, I made the determination. You threaten there and we say don't do it.

	 

	WHY DOES CRITICISING THE GOVERNMENT DISTURB THE PROSECUTOR?

	 

	Why does criticizing the government bother the prosecutor? For example, a mayor who says 'carry out a cross-border operation' or writes his name on bombs is not propaganda for violence and war. But Demirtaş's words 'hold the hand of peace' are turning into propaganda. Complete cruelty and complete hypocrisy. What happens to you while the Kurds are there defending their land against ISIS? Sir, a 'terrorist state' is being established. Come on from there. How was the Republic of Turkey established? It was terrorism! We do not accept this, this is our policy, this is how we look at politics. We think that relations with PYD should be improved. I am not very happy with the Kurds establishing relations with America there, but the people there use their preferences that way. What can we do, what can we say? If we go back and tell them this, they will say 'they say we will come suddenly one night, morning and evening'. What can I say? We say meet with PYD. Will the apocalypse break out? It's okay if we say to meet with Assad, but if we say to meet with the Kurds, all hell will break loose. From where?

	 

	THE TURKISH NATION THESIS IS FOUNDED ON THE KURD DENIAL

	 

	How did this Kurd phobia and hostility towards Kurd fear become so ingrained in our brains? When we say 'meet with the Kurds' or 'meet with the PYD' they raise hell. You waited for minutes in the room of the man who killed so many of your soldiers. There is no problem holding Blinken's hand, but when I say meet with PYD, racism reaches its peak. Because the Turkish nation thesis is based on The Kurd denial.

	 

	If they insult Turkey a thousand times, they will meet with them, but when it comes to the Kurds, the foundations of the state will be shaken. The moment you say there are Kurds, everyone says, 'What about the thesis that they are Turks?' When it comes to the Kurds, the whole world aside, the debate about the survival of the Turkish state begins. The issue is not the existence of Kurds, but the fallacy of this thesis. The issue is not that Kurds call themselves 'Kurd', the issue is in the laws. This is denial. This needs to be removed. You say that we are brothers with the Kurds, you say that we pray to the same qibla. Well, you meet with everyone, why don't you meet with the Kurds? We are the ones who need to be met most comfortably and legitimately.

	 

	WE ARE TRYING TO FIX THIS COUNTRY

	 

	We are trying to fix this country. While we are the ones with whom it is most comfortable to meet, we are the only ones at the top of the list of those who should not be interviewed. Why do we say these? This is the way of being a lover of peace, not because we are helpless. If we used the language that Turkish intellectuals, journalists and politicians use today, it would not take 15 days for a civil war to break out. You won't hear racism from Kurds. You will never hear any Kurd say, ‘If you are a Kurd, brag, if you are not, obey.’ They are oppressed, They still have to make their identity accepted. We have to explain our issue. It is not easy to explain this to the racist mind that has been shaped in 50 years. Kopsan is not divided, 4 million Kurds live in Istanbul. Baghdad is not like Hewler. We are getting 10 thousand votes from Edirne, we are in a position to elect MPs from Tekirdağ. What will we do with these Kurds? This is HDP, this is the only way life together is possible. There is the geography of Kurdistan, accept it. There is no need to draw boundaries. Throughout history, Kurdistan has existed as a geography with undefined borders. We want this not to be denied. Most of the Kurds population lives outside the Kurdistan geography. We have to live together. Because of this obligation, let's turn it into volunteering so that it becomes no longer an obligation. The way to achieve this is not by giving up our language and identity. The state must give up its policies."