DEM Party slams Justice Ministry over Demirtaş appeal: “AKP has sworn to do what ISIS could not”

Summary:

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM Party sharply criticized the Justice Ministry for appealing a European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling ordering the release of former HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş. Standing outside the ministry building in Ankara, DEM lawmakers accused the government of defying international law and pursuing a “politically motivated vendetta,” with deputy group chair Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit declaring, “AKP has sworn to do what ISIS could not do through the Kobani trial.”

Ministry appeals ECHR decision one day before deadline

The Turkish Justice Ministry on Monday filed an appeal against the ECHR’s latest ruling that found multiple violations of rights in Demirtaş’s prolonged detention and called for his immediate release. The ministry submitted its objection just one day before the deadline expired.

Following the appeal, DEM Party deputies and group leaders held a press conference in front of the ministry headquarters, condemning what they described as a “calculated effort to delay justice.”

“Government trying to manipulate the law”

Speaking to reporters, DEM Party deputy group chair Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit said the government was “engaged in a legal charade” to justify continued detentions in the long-running Kobani trial, which targets dozens of senior HDP politicians.

“We have comrades, including Mr. Demirtaş and Ms. Yüksekdağ, who have been unlawfully imprisoned for years as a result of a political case,” Koçyiğit said. “This is not just our view — the ECHR has ruled three times that the case violates the European Convention on Human Rights. But instead of enforcing these decisions and restoring our friends’ freedom, the ministry seeks to buy time and manipulate the law as if there were real justice in this country.”

She added that the latest appeal filed in Strasbourg was intended to block Demirtaş’s release, even though two previous ECHR Grand Chamber rulings on his detention had already become final.

“AKP doing what ISIS could not”

Koçyiğit said public trust in justice was being systematically eroded.

“The people ask us: how can there be peace and democracy while Demirtaş, Yüksekdağ and others remain imprisoned? What social benefit comes from keeping them behind bars? This is pure insistence on unlawfulness,” she said.

“There is now a plain and painful truth — the AKP has sworn to do through the Kobani conspiracy trial what ISIS could not accomplish,” she added, using language that drew sharp reactions online.

DEM Party calls on Ministry to respect international law

Koçyiğit urged the Justice Ministry to “return to legality and universal principles,” calling for immediate compliance with the ECHR’s binding decisions.

“Every move the government makes is being recorded by the people,” she warned. “Ignoring these rulings deepens public mistrust and damages Turkey’s international credibility. The path to peace and democracy begins by ending these politically motivated detentions.”

Hatimoğulları presses Parliament for “five vital needs”

Separately, DEM Party co-chair Tülay Hatimoğulları used her weekly parliamentary speech to call on the Turkish Grand National Assembly to take responsibility for what she described as “five vital needs” — economic livelihood, justice, peace, democracy, and freedom.

She said the newly formed National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission had raised hopes, but stressed that “concrete steps” were now needed. Hatimoğulları reiterated her demand for immediate release of Demirtaş, Figen Yüksekdağ, and other political prisoners convicted in the Kobani case, and urged Parliament to debate legislation granting imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan a “right to hope” (umut hakkı).

“A country trapped in multiple crises”

Hatimoğulları listed Turkey’s ongoing crises: judicial bias, trustee appointments replacing elected mayors, repression of opposition municipalities, restrictions on language and cultural rights, and deep poverty.

She argued that Parliament must this year focus on restoring justice and freedoms, warning that, “Any political mindset that prioritizes conflict over social welfare and control over freedom becomes the architect of political, social, and economic collapse.”