ANKARA – Selahattin Demirtaş said that they pursue a policy that defends the honour and identity of the Kurds and their right to live humanely in their own land and said: “The state to which you and I belong has forcibly occupied our homeland. It is the state that broke the virtue agreement."

 

A lawsuit was filed against 108 people, 18 of whom were imprisoned, including the former Cochairs of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and members of the Central Executive Board (MYK) of HDP, citing the protest actions that took place on 6-8 October 2014 against ISIS's attacks on Kobanê. The Kobanê Case continues with the defense of former HDP Cochair Selahattin Demirtaş.

 

'PEOPLE DO NOT TRUST POLITICS'

 

Stating that the influence of politics has decreased in Turkey and the world, Demirtaş mentioned that, on the other hand, Kurdish politicians are trying to highlight the transformative power of politics. He said that the prisoner politicians did their best to bring to light the history of humanity and the Kurds through this case. Demirtaş said: “The massacre, brutality and barbarism that is happening in Kurdistan and Rojava today is not happening because we have become civilized. We created evil and discovered something else. We discovered virtue and ethical values. Because no power can stop the free spirit within us. What modernity imposes on us; If sociality is the way to achieve this, ethical values are the way to go. Laws are not what holds us together."

 

THE STATE OCCUPYED OUR HOMELAND BY FORCE

 

Stating that the Kurds, like other peoples, just want to survive and that they are right, Demirtaş said: “Everyone is right, but they are not strong. In nature, only the strong survive. You know, we invented culture; What happened to him? What happened to morality and virtue? According to culture, we are the ones who are right. The state to which you and I belong has forcibly occupied our homeland. It is the state that broke the pact of virtue. If a criminal is to be sought here, it is not us, we are the victims of this. We also made mistakes, such as not following the truth and the truth. It is our resistance against those who violate the covenant of virtue and break the thousands of years old agreement of coexistence. That is why we are judging today.”

 

'WESTERNERS CALL WEALTH IS WHAT THEY STOLE'

 

Demirtaş continued his defense as follows: “Today, what you call migration or forced migration, people are coming after what you stole. Because that wealth already belongs to those people. We call this imperialist exploitation. These are in our conversations. When Spain withdrew from Western Sahara, it left behind a lawyer and a doctor. While Europe became rich with the gold and oil minerals it exploited from there, the eastern part of the world was left behind.”

 

'AN ORDER BASED ON LIES'

 

Demirtaş stated that all religions preach goodness, but people insist on evil. Demirtaş: “Most of the Irish Catholics and Protestants who slaughter each other do not know the 10 commandments of the Bible. There is an order built on lies. There is no one left who does not kill each other for the sake of religion and belief. Ask the ISIS members what exactly they know about Islam. Or ask the lynching mobs that took to the streets and the groups that went in front of our headquarters and left yellow body bags. Let's see how aware they are of the religion and identity they strive for. They don't realize it; these are just groups trying to feed themselves and continue their generation. They have nothing to do with culture. Let's not count what America and Israel did. Then they stand in front of the cameras and declare innocent people as terrorists. G-20 is the summit of murderers, the UN is like that. Netanyahu is a murderer, HAMAS is a murderer, but the Palestinian people, the Israeli people, the Kurds are oppressed. Those who confiscate the language and culture of the people are the murderers, not us."

 

WE DEFENDED THE HONOR AND IDENTITY OF OUR PEOPLE

 

Demirtaş said: “We only defended the honour and identity of our people, we defended their right to live humanely in their own land. Which Turkish or Kurdish friend here confiscated whose rights? We did not govern the state either. Can you accuse Gültan Kışanak of corruption and removing Turkish signs from the municipality? Can you blame us for not speaking Turkish here? No, I can list thousands of such fascist mayors. They removed the "Kesk û sor û zer (yellow, red, green)" colours and banned traffic lights. Who is guilty? The country is ours, the land is ours, the labour is ours. Did we invade Ankara? Did we come and ban the people's language, culture and belief? Did the Turks oppose the occupation? There were Greeks, British, Byzantines, and the Turks resisted. Why do Kurds become terrorists when they resist? Moreover, they resisted with words and politics. The contract of virtue ends when it is said: ‘Even this much is a death sentence for you.’ This is false slander. This is the source of historical and current lies against us, this is the source of pure evil.”