The 4th hearing of the Kobanê Case, where 108 people, 20 of whom are currently behind bars, including the executives of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), continues at the Sincan Prison Campus today. 

 

Criticizing that they openly wanted to be intimidated, that even the lawyers had a hard time getting into the court room and the relatives of the defendants, the journalists and the observers were simply not allowed in the hall without any legal reasons, Beştaş said: "You say you can not interfere into events happening outside of this court room. We are being intimidated by the judiciary and government. A provocator group came to the doors at the previous hearing. They could enter the building, no questions asked, while the lawyers here have to show their ID every time they enter this court room."

 

Demanding a letter to be written to the Ministry of Health, Beştaş requested that information about how many YPG and YPJ fighters were treated in the hospitals during the Kobané protests took place between October 6-8 in Turkey. Beştaş said: "ISIS was defined as a terrorist organisation back then. Turkey also vaguely says that it is a terrorist organisation but look what the Ministry of Justice says. The ministry says PYD and YPG are not in the list of the terrorist organisations. Now the government labels any group they want as a terrorist organisation. Even during the times Turkey was ruled with martial law, the Council of Ministers or any other authority could not declare a group as a 'terrorist organization' on its own accord.

 

Reminding that Turkey did not have a single decision that the YPG was a "terrorist organization" until 2017, and that it was not considered a "terrorist organization" by any country, Beştaş said, "We have made acquittal decisions for YPG members captured in 2017. We want the date of the decision when YPG and YPJ was defined as a terrorist organization by writing a letter to the Ministry of Justice."