The court proceedings against Gökkan have now been reopened. In 2021, Gökkan was sentenced by a Turkish court to 30 years in prison for alleged “membership in an illegal organization and knowingly and intentionally supporting an illegal organization.” The trial at that time, and in particular the presentation of evidence by secret witnesses, was widely criticized as unfair and not in accordance with the principles of the rule of law.
While Gökkan’s lawyers appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, the Third Criminal Chamber overturned the 30-year prison sentence in 2022, deeming it “excessive and disproportionate.”
The retrial of the Kurdish politician was held at the Diyarbakır 9th Heavy Penal Court on Thursday. Gökkan participated in the hearing via video conferencing system SEGBIS.
The hearing was observed by members of the Gökkan family, Saliha Aydeniz, DEM Party MP for Mardin, members of the TJA, and representatives of a number of political parties and civil society organizations.
Ayşe Gökkan, who defended herself in Kurdish, stated that the process was unlawful, saying, “The Middle East is burning, and I don’t want our country to burn in this fire. For our country not to burn, Mr. Öcalan, the actor of the Peace and Democratic Society Process, must be free.”
Ayşe Gökkan also emphasized that the restrictions imposed on the Peace Mothers were wrong and that the democratic and freedom-seeking activities of Kurdish women could not be considered a crime.
Gökkan’s lawyers requested her release, stating that she had been imprisoned for five years, was experiencing health problems, and that all evidence was in the case file.
The court ruled for Gökkan’s detention to continue, taking into account the prosecutor’s opinion that she should remain in custody, and postponed the trial until December 30.
Ayşe Gökkan was a member of the now-banned Democratic Society Party (DTP) for several years starting in 2009 and served as mayor of Mardin’s Nusaybin district, located on the Turkish-Syrian border. Her local politics have been very successful in terms of civil society. The number of femicides fell to zero in the last year of her term of office, thanks in part to the women’s shelter founded by Gökkan in the city. She also protested vehemently with a sit-in and hunger strike against the construction of the wall on the border of Qamishlo, which was intended to prevent Kurdish families from traveling and to make it impossible for civil war refugees from Syria to flee.
Gökkan also insisted on conducting official business in Kurmancî, the family language of 80 percent of the city’s citizens. However, it was her research and publication of sexist violence perpetrated by Turkish police and military security forces that brought her even more strongly into the crosshairs of state persecution.