Imprisoned Kurdish women politicians have saluted all women who cut their hair and burn their headscarves during the protests in Iran, following the death of Mahsa Amini: “We are also targeted as a symbol against this rigid government.”
The Kobani trial is a legal procedure during which politicians of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) are charged with causing the death of 37 people and wanting to disrupt the “unity and territorial integrity of the state” during the Kobani protests in October 2014. The protests erupted as the HDP demanded support from the Turkish Government against the Islamic State (IS) laying a siege against Kobani. The Turkish Government and the prosecutor argue that the HDP made such demands on orders of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which it sees as a terrorist organization.
108 people, 21 of whom are arrested, including former Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chairs Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş, former Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Co-Chair Sebahat Tuncel, and HDP MYK members are on trial. While the investigation into the protests began in 2014, the indictment was presented in December 2020 and the trial started in April 2021. The 17th hearing period of the Kobani trial took place at Ankara 22nd High Criminal Court in Sincan Prison Campus.
During the trial imprisoned Kurdish women politicians referred to the protests that started in Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini.
Ayla Akat Ata (women’s rights activist and former MP of Peace and Democracy Party-BDP) said:
“We salute all women who cut their hair and burn their headscarves. We are also targeted as a symbol against this rigid government. When we look at this room today, and see the number of men and women. In Turkey, someone presses a button and events take place. The responsibility for those events is blamed on the Kurdish Women’s Movement. We, as a party to this persecution, are the women who are on trial not in Iran but in Turkey.”
Speaking after Aka, Sebahat Tuncel (women’s rights advocate and former MP of HDP) also touched upon the murder of Jîna Mahsa Amini and said, “The massacre against women is political, we are aware of the state violence against women. The violence against Jîna Mahsa Amini and the violence against women in Turkey is the same”. Pointing out that the whole world condemns Iran, but there is no condemnation from Turkey, Tuncel said, “Can a country that abolished the Istanbul Convention condemn, it cannot.”
“The peace project is life itself”
Stating that the Kurdish issue is not only a Kurdish problem and that they are trying to realise the peace project within the framework of this reality, Tuncel said the following:
“This peace project is life itself. Turkey is going to elections, the main issue on the agenda is the economic crisis. The reason for this is the Kurdish problem. Because Turkey spends its money on weapons. The peace issue has a lot to do with freedoms in Turkey. Especially it has a lot to do with women. Women are experiencing the greatest difficulties of war. Here you are judging women who were once in the Parliament.”