The case against co-mayor Bekir Kaya, launched two years ago after the appointment of a Turkish trustee for the city administration of the Northern Kurdistan city of Van, ended on Thursday as expected with a high prison sentence.

The Turkish judiciary has sentenced Kaya, who has been behind bars since November 2016, to eight years and three months in prison for allegations of terrorism. Only in September, the Kurdish politician in the so-called KCK cases had been sentenced to a similar high prison sentence.

In the trial that ended yesterday at the 2nd Heavy Penal Court in Van, Kaya refused a personal defense. Kaya, who is a lawyer himself, said the allegations against him are not worthy of a defense, and a justification on his part would therefore be a denial of the law.

He pointed out that the operations against the DBP (Party of Democratic Regions) and his arrest were far from legal legitimacy and politically motivated, and was for the destruction of a political movement. The indictment is based on allegations such as "violations of the assembly law", but also "support and assistance for a terrorist organization". According to the prosecutor, the politician, among other things, provided "masses of cash" to the PKK in the Qandil Mountains. In addition, Kaya is charged with participating in the funeral of fallen Kurdish guerilla fighters and civilian victims of Turkish state violence.

"We are confronted with a social question. There is no Kurdish problem; this is about the problem of appropriation of rights of the Kurdish population. We have been experiencing this again and again, in all the phases of the Turkish Republic. The Kurds are not the ones who cause problems or are a problem. The Kurds are the ones who oppose the system that deprives them of their rights," said Kaya, who was only able to attend the trial through the SEGBIS video-sharing system from Silivri Prison where he is jailed.

Using the example of the security forces present in the courtroom, Kaya explained that it was a political process and the state wanted to signal how to act against the Kurdish population: "Look at the hall. Today, there is not a single arrested defendant, but it is still full of soldiers and police".

“Staged case to smash a political movement”

Kaya said he does not want to go into more detail about the massacres of the Kurdish population, nor to mention the deportation of DEP members from parliament to prison in 1994 or the 17,500 murders of unidentified perpetrators. Nevertheless, -he added- the process is in direct connection with the events of the past.

"The current government just wants the lie to prevail. As long as the lie dominates, the truth is prevented from coming to light. This process was specially staged to smash a political movement and brought to the stage. Of course, the government needed to find a framework to give this process 'legitimacy'. Without a single piece of evidence, condemnations were used to create a perception that we were channeling funds from the city administration to the PKK and putting urban vehicles at the service of the organization, pushing the process away from historical and social reality," said Kaya and recalled that alone against him a total of nine indictments were written in the course of this legal procedure.

“Erdoğan boasts of imprisoning mayors”

Co-mayor of Van continued: "As a result, parliamentary deputies were imprisoned, enforced administrators appointed to the DBP-held municipalities, and co-mayors arrested. Even this procedure shows that this is a political process. Time and again there is talk that the judiciary is independent and an interference with the independence of the judiciary is a crime. It is the President himself, who constantly gives himself to put us in prison. So it makes no sense for you to wear these robes. Everyone knows that the law of hostility judges us".

Bridge built in mountainous terrain: "Terrorist support"

Kaya also commented on the prosecutor's allegation that he had explicitly built a bridge for the guerrillas in the district of Çatak (Şax). The reason for the charge was that the bridge is in "mountainous terrain". Thus, it was argued that the bridge would not benefit the civilian population, but serve exclusively the guerrillas.

Kaya reminded the court that he was not "the creator of nature" and that he could do nothing for the mountainous terrain in Çatak. He recalled that the special provincial administration had already built a bridge at the same location years ago for the more than ten thousand inhabitants of the region. Because it was in an unusable state, a new one had been built.

'Negotiation against the Kurdish people'

It's a whole people that's intended to be judged in person, Kaya said. Remarking that he had no expectations and it was completely irrelevant whether he would be punished or not, he continued: "I am well aware that the disadvantages of my imprisonment will eventually become a societal advantage. For that reason it is insignificant how the court will decide."

In the same proceedings, eight former employees of the city municipality were also charged. Bekir Kıran, Çetin Çiftçi, Cuma Köylüoğlu, İdris Şaybak and Neriman Uyar were each sentenced to 25 months in prison. Zelal Tanlı, Mehmet Yalım Eryiğit and Can Tayan were acquitted. The trial was observed by many HDP officials and deputies, including co-chair Sezai Temelli.