Many administrators and co-chairs working within the Association for Solidarity and Support with Families Who Lost Their Relatives in the Cradle of Civilizations (MEBYA-DER) in Kurdistan are being prosecuted on charges of “membership in an illegal organization.” Numerous investigations have been launched, particularly against mothers whose children joined the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). One of these mothers is 63-year-old Yıldız Damla. Damla, who has been detained multiple times, has faced three separate investigations on the allegation of “being a member of an illegal organization.”
In the combined case file formed by merging these investigations, a local court issued an acquittal for Yıldız Damla in 2023. Despite the acquittal, the case remains before the Court of Cassation due to objections filed by the prosecutor’s office. Damla’s lawyer, Gülistan Ataş, said: “Although there is no legal issue, they are trying to manufacture a crime.”
Attending funerals and washing bodies deemed “lawful”
Yıldız Damla was taken into custody while serving as an administrator of MEBYA-DER, and an investigation was launched against her on the grounds that she attended funerals, made press statements and washed the bodies of members of the PKK. The three investigations opened on the same allegation were later merged by the local court, and after nearly five years of proceedings, the trial concluded with an acquittal. The local court in Diyarbakır (Amed) ruled that the accusations against Yıldız Damla did not constitute a crime and that her actions were “lawful,” issuing an acquittal. The prosecutor handling the case objected to the ruling. When the file was referred to the Court of Appeals, the acquittal was once again upheld as lawful, yet this time, the appellate prosecutor filed another objection to the decision.
Prosecutors refuse to accept the acquittal
The prosecutor has moved the case to a higher court, yet the file, which resulted in an acquittal in 2023, remains pending before the Court of Cassation. As the Court of Cassation is expected to review the rulings issued by both the local court and the Court of Appeals, lawyer Gülistan Ataş pointed out that her client is still subject to an international travel ban despite the acquittal. Ataş stressed that washing bodies at funerals and taking part in press statements do not constitute a criminal offence and insisted that the acquittal must be fully implemented.
The process is being prolonged unnecessarily
Lawyer Gülistan Ataş said: “Membership in the association and participation in guerrilla funerals have been turned into allegations against my client. Yıldız Damla has been subjected to judicial harassment for years simply because she is a mother who lost her child in the countryside. These accusations, being a member of the association, attending funerals and claiming the bodies, have led to repeated detentions and arrests. In the final stage of the case, the local court issued an acquittal after a trial that lasted from 2018 to 2023. Despite my client being cleared of all charges, the prosecutor objected to the acquittal and took the file to the Court of Appeals. The appellate court upheld the acquittal; however, this time the appellate prosecutor objected and sent the case to the Court of Cassation. As a result, my client’s international travel ban remains in place, and the process is being prolonged unnecessarily.”
Investigations have turned into a practice of systematic pressure
Ataş concluded with the following remarks: “Yet there is no legal issue whatsoever in the case file. Being a member of an association, serving as an association administrator or attending funerals has never constituted a criminal offence, and it is still assessed in the same way today. I also believe that such investigations and prosecutions have increasingly targeted mothers who lost their children in the countryside. This situation has turned into systematic pressure against the mothers.”