As two more hearing sessions of the ‘Kobane case’ were held in an Ankara court, jailed former co-chairs of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, spoke in court on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

Speaking through the audio-visual system, Selahattin Demirtaş said:

“None of the witnesses ever mentioned the Kobane incidents in their initial testimonies. The prosecutor wanted to create evidence since he had none. During my candidacy in the presidential elections, I made an open call to my political rival Erdoğan and said, ‘If you prove that I made any call regarding the Kobane incidents, I can withdraw in your favour.’ He then probably realized that the people around him could provide him with no such proof, which made him furious (…) And perhaps after that, he demanded that a lawsuit be brought against me. This unlawful process has begun with such instruction from the palace (…) The prosecutor then started assiduously searching for a witness, a confessor, an anonymous witness. He sent letters everywhere. They arrested me and dear Figen Yüksekdağ with no evidence whatsoever.”

Demirtaş went on to explain how it was completely unnatural that the testimonies of an open witness named Gökalp, and an anonymous witness, named Mahir, were the same word for word.

Figen Yüksekdağ reacted to the questions by the prosecutor, who asked her about the names of HDP’s central executive committee.

She said:

“You are off your limits as you ask such questions, implying that being a senior official of a political party that has the third largest parliamentary group is a crime. We do not have to tolerate this.”