MÊRDÎN, NORTHERN KURDISTAN
During the self-government resistance, the occupying Turkish state declared a curfew and Nisêbîn of Mêrdîn underwent severe destruction.
On 26 May 2016, a military curfew was declared in the Nisêbîn district of Mêrdîn by the occupying Turkish state followed by armed self-defence and declaration of autonomy by the peoples. While many people were massacred in the basements of Northern Kurdistan by the occupying Turkish state, many people were burnt alive with chemical weapons and the corpses of starved babies were preserved in fridges.
Following the heavy war crimes committed, state officials benefited from complete impunity and the victims were subject to litigation.
During the proceedings of the case, which was opened on May 26 2016, over 70 children were detained.
The trials of two people who were detained during the resistance, was held at the 4th Heavy Penal Court of Mêrdîn.
Hevidar Özdemir
The first hearing was of Hevidar Özdemir. Özdemir is accused by the regime of disrupting the integrity of the state and separating it, intentionally attempting to kill, the unauthorized transport of harmful substances, and damaging public property.
Life imprisonment was demanded in Hevidar’s case. Özdemir’s lawyer requested additional time for defense. The court accepted this request and adjourned the next hearing to 13 February 2020.
Fırat Çiftçi
Then the hearing of Fırat Çiftçi was held. Firat was brought from Balikesir Bandırma Prison to the court room.
Çiftçi stated that the occasion would be the first in the two-year process, in which he was able to make a defense. Fırat’s defense is as follows:
“I am here today because I demand democratic self-government and I defend the most natural right of every human being. To tell you, I never regret being here today. The punishment you give me has no value. The conception that criminalizes democratic self-government has committed the greatest crime. Whatever country Erdogan goes to these days, the Kurds are the only topic. He makes them so much of a agenda because he is afraid of Kurds. We are not trying to create such fear. We don’t want anyone to be afraid of us, just like we’re not afraid of anyone. We seek to live our own culture and morality freely. You continue to deny and try to get a result with the tanks. Did you finish the PKK with these tanks? The struggle continues everywhere. And it will. They say that the Kurdish and Turkish are brothers, but brotherhood also has a morality and measure.”
“We are being tried at a theater today,” Çift said. “Do you think that we will be punished with this punishment? You’re giving us punishments with a ridiculous indictment and statements. Was I the one who shot a 70-year-old woman with children in Nusaybin? Was I the one who kept Taybet Ana’s funeral on the street for days in Silopi? No, you did it all. Give me your punishment, avenge me. Riots are flourishing all over the world. The core problem is the system problem. This mentality is not the solution. The system that you consider a terror is the system of confederalism. And you know it’s not a crime. The punishments you decide will have no connection with moral cultural values and social conscience.”
After the defense, the court decided that the Firat would be imprisoned for 19 years, for “attempting to kill intentionally, for unauthorized transport of harmful substances and for damaging public property.”
Others
In the Nisêbîn case, 29 prisoners had been tried before. With their names and penalties, the prisoners in question are as follows:
- Yasemin Erkol 10 years
- Özgür Sevim aggravated life and 25 years
- İlyas Doğan, Ömer Karataş, Osman Bozkurt, Hamit Acur and Akar İkbal aggravated life and 15 years
- Sadık Tan, Bayram Sevgin, Fırat Dari, Mazlum Agri and Hatip Oyman aggravated life and 18 years
- Ercan Dolasir aggravated life and 10 years
- Erkan Benli aggravated life and 20 years, 3 months
- Baver Başar aggravated life and 19 years
- Mehmet Ziriğ aggravated life and 17 years
- Süleyman Göksel Yerdut aggravated life and 15 years
- Dilber Tanrıkulu aggravated life and 26 years
- Tufan İlbaş aggravated life and 27 years 6 months
- Ramazan Eroğlu 2 aggravated life sentances and 3 years
- Faruk Engin aggravated life and 31 years
- Resul Ergün 3 times aggravated life sentances and 27 years in prison
- Şükrü Aybek, Heja Alğan, Emre Topçuoğlu, Baran Eman, Çeçan Kilkaya and Dilan Aslan were sentenced to 35 years and 10 months of imprisonment each
- Hüseyin Bağ life imprisonment and 11 years
- Zehra Kaya for 18 years
- Fatma Aslan for 21 years and 7 months
In the case of Nisêbîn, prisoners of the free press, Çınar and Siraç Yüksek, were martyred in a self-sacrifice action in order to protest the isolation on Peoples’ Leader, Abdullah Öcalan.
