Trial of the Imprisoned Signatories of the Peace Petition Will Be Held on April 22, 2016

The trial begins in four days. Below is the summarized English version of the indictment against the three signatories currently held in high security prisons. The reason why this indictment only includes three of them is because Meral Camcı, the fourth signatory currently in prison, was abroad when the other three were arrested before she returned and was also incarcerated. 

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Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office
Terror and Organized Crime Investigation Bureau

Investigation No. 2016/36089
Docket No. 2016/13520
Indictment No. 2016/1328


THE SUMMARY OF THE INDICTMENT

To the (No.) High Criminal Court of Istanbul,

Suspects:

1- Muzaffer Kaya
2- Esra Mungan Gürsoy
3- Kıvanç Ersoy

Crime: Propagandizing for terrorist organization

Date and Place of Crime: January 11, 2016 – March 10, 2016, Istanbul

Date of Arrest: March 15, 2016


Applicable article: Anti-Terror Law Act No. 3713 Article 7/2

Evidences: The investigation report concerning the statement by Bese Hozat, the co-president of the PKK/KCK terrorist organization’s executive committee, on December 27, 2015; the investigation reports about the suspects concerning the press declarations by way of support for the PKK/KCK terrorist organization, which were made public on January 11, 2016 and March 10, 2016; records of statement and interrogation reports of the suspects and the arrest warrants for them; and the scope of the whole investigation file.

Evaluation:


The AKP Government had started a “resolution process” in order to solve “the East and the Southeast problem in Turkey”[1], which began with the armed clashes in 1984 and continued since then, causing the death of thousands of people. In the process, the government had taken certain steps including the enactment of the law on July 15, 2014 regarding the “termination of terror and strengthening of social integration” and establishment of a committee of wise men with the participation of academics, writers, and artists from all seven geographical regions of Turkey (the the names of the committee members and the regions that they worked had been shared).

While this process was carried out by the government “despite all the preventions and difficulties” such as the attempt on February 7, 2012, (the summoning of the Undersecretary of the MIT[2] by the specially authorized prosecutor of the period for testimony as part of the KCK investigations), two policemen were shot dead in the nape by the PKK in their houses in Sanliurfa/Ceylanpinar as a reprisal for the suicide bomb attack by DAESH in Sanliurfa /Suruc on July 20, 2015.

Later on, during the operations initiated by the security forces when the PKK started digging trenches, raising barricades, and installing booby traps as of August 2015, PKK attacked the security forces with heavy weapons. The PKK/KCK local units declared “so-called” self-governments in cities like Sirnak, Silopi, Cizre, and in the town of Nusaybin.

Bese Hozat, the co-president of the PKK/KCK terrorist organization’s executive committee, urged the “intellectuals and democrats to support the self-governments” via the organization’s media channel on December 22, 2015, intended as instructions to the suspects.

Acting on this instruction, the “so-called” Democratic Society Congress (DTK) declared self-government in several other cities and towns and started to dig trenches and to raise barricades in these areas as well.

Due to these circumstances, the Governors of these cities imposed curfews and started “clean-up” operations “against the terrorists”.

According to the press release published on March 9, 2016on the official website of the Turkish Armed Forces, 120 terrorist organization members have been “liquidated” in joint operations carried out by the police and the military forces between February 16 and March 30, 2016, in Şırnak province, İdil district. Also, according to the press release published on March 10, 2016, 279 terrorist organization members have been “liquidated” and numerous barricades and trenches have been closed/removed in the operations carried out in Diyarbakır province, Sur district between December 18, 2015 and March 9, 2016.

Following the DTK declaration and the statement made by Bese Hozat, “the proclamation of support for the terrorist organization of PKK/KCK” which begins with the claim “we will not be a party to this crime”, and whose full text was included in the indictment, was published on January 11, 2016 by 1128 “persons” among whom there are also the suspects. The text of the “so-called peace proclamation” is evidently an open propaganda of the PKK/KCK terrorist organization.

The real purpose of the declaration is to create public opinion for the finalization of the operations that were started by the security forces in the regions, where so-called self-determination was declared, with the purpose of cleaning the regions off the terrorists and "ensuring peace and prosperity for the residents of the region”. The prosecution started the investigation number 2016/5734 upon the issuing of the declaration. In this process, when the statements of the suspects who signed the declaration started to be taken, a statement was issued under the titled of press release by the suspects Esra Mungan, Kıvanç Ersoy, Muzaffer Kaya, and Meral Camcı in the way of “insistently continuing to propagandize for the PKK terror organization and supporting the declaration with the purpose of preventing the other suspects from withdrawing their signatures and showing that they can still defy the Republic of Turkey"(the press release dated March 10, 2016 is cited).

The statements of the suspects taken on March 15, 2016at the office of the Prosecution contained the questions directed to them during the statement-taking;

In their statements, the suspects did not initially answer the questions that necessitated a statement of their opinions and convictions. They, instead, referred to what they have experienced following the declaration. They stated that the text was prepared collectively, they read the content of the text and understood what it meant, they were signatories of the text in the internet environment, and they were not informed about the statements of the person named Bese Hozat. Also, the suspects expressed that they signed this text containing harsh criticism in order to put an end to severe violations of rights experienced with the revival of the war atmosphere and to restart the peace process, the fundamental responsibility being on the government in this process, adding that the state officials who committed crimes should be put on trial and that they did not regret having signed the text.

As it has been understood that the suspects’ action is in the direction of the orders of Bese Hozat, the co-president of the PKK/KCK’s executive committee, and in support for the terrorist organization, that the terrorist organization has been legitimized under the name of “peace declaration”, that the state is accused of committing a massacre, that the suspects’ intention is to ensure the UN to send observers to the regions of the Turkish Republic where so-called self-governments are declared, and that the suspects make an effort to legitimize the self-governments which are referred to as local independence by the PKK, thereby constituting the crime of terrorist organization propaganda embodied in the Anti-Terror Law Act number 3713 Article 7/2, it is demanded that the suspects be punished according to the above mentioned article. March 22, 2016.



[1] Translator’s Note: In other words, the Kurdish problem.
[2] National Intelligence Organization