Scores of years in prison for 100 Kurdish politicians in Turkey

Of the accused, the court acquitted 43 people. Four cases were dropped sine the accused died during years-long trials.

Ari Khalidi 2017/03/28 18:41

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) - A heavy Turkish penal court in the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir on Tuesday dished out prison sentences ranging from one to 20 years for 107 local politicians, elected officials, mayors and former lawmakers.

Kurdistan24's Diyarbakir Bureau said those tried were accused of membership in the civilian KCK group, an affiliate of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

KCK is the Kurdish abbreviation for "the Group of Communities in Kurdistan", an umbrella organization founded in 2005 by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) aiming to implement "Democratic Confederalism:" the jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan's ideas of self-rule, a libertarian socialist political system based on the ideas of the American political theorist Murray Bookchin.

Of the accused, the court acquitted 43 people. Four cases were dropped because the accused died during years-long trials.

Among the sentenced were co-leader of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Kamuran Yuksek who received a sentence of eight years and nine months in a separate case the same day.

The court condemned Yuksek, the former MP Kemal Aktas, and politicians Bayram Altun, Mehmet Tas, Serdar Kizilkaya, Huseyin Yilmaz, Salih Akdogan, Turan Genc, Cimen Isik, Zuhre Bozaci, Mehmet Selim, Herdem Kizilkaya, Lutfu Dag, and Ahmet Birsin each to 21 years of imprisonment.

Dismissed co-mayor of Diyarbakir Firat Anli who was arrested in late 2016 and former lawmaker Demir Celik each received six years and three months.

Hatip Dicle, also a former MP was given nine years, as removed co-mayor of Mardin Ahmet Turk was sentenced to one year and three months.

The "KCK operations," as dubbed by the Turkish media, started with the detainment of more than 150 politicians mostly from the now-dissolved Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in dozens of Kurdish and Turkish cities in 2009.

Pictures showing police officers lining up handcuffed Kurdish politicians had caused an uproar and even reaction from government figures.

During several waves of operations throughout Turkey between the years 2009–2012, tens of mayors, hundreds of local politicians and thousands of people, including journalists, academics, and activists were arrested, tried and imprisoned.

Editing by Ava Homa