Mar 28, 2017

One of Turkey’s most promising young Kurdish politicians was sentenced to eight years and nine months in prison for a questionable terrorism conviction today. A court in the mainly Kurdish southeast region pronounced Kamuran Yuksek, the charismatic co-chair of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), a member of a terrorist organization.

The official was referring to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the militant group that has been fighting for Kurdish self-rule since 1984.

The DBP’s deputy chairman, Ramazan Tunc, claimed the verdict was reached without amassing sufficient evidence against Yuksek. “No witnesses were even heard. The verdict was rushed; the trial is purely political,” Tunc told Al-Monitor in a telephone interview.

Yuksek, who is facing trial in three other cases, was not present at the hearing. Party officials said the 37-year-old was in Europe and may not return to Turkey to avoid joining thousands of fellow Kurdish politicians who are behind bars on similar charges. At least 3,850 of them are DBP members, including 85 elected mayors and his co-chair Sebahat Tuncel. Thousands of other detainees belong to the DBP’s sister party, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

HDP’s co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag are in prison together with 11 fellow HDP members of parliament. In a related development, prosecutors convicted and handed down sentences totaling 1109 years for 121 Kurdish politicians, lawyers and other activists today. Yuksek was among a majority who received 21 years in a long running case claiming the defendants were seeking to establish an independent Kurdish state under the guidance of the PKK.