The trial at the Old Bailey in London, described as a case of criminalization targeting the Kurdish people and involving six Kurds, is continuing. After the reading of the indictment and the completion of the cross-examination of the police officers involved in the operation, the proceedings have moved on to the cross-examination of the Kurdish activists. The cross-examination of Ercan Akbal, one of the Kurdish activists questioned first, is ongoing.
As the trial continues, drawing comparisons with the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) cases once described as “absurd” in Turkey, human rights defenders have also voiced their reactions.
Ninety-four-year-old human rights lawyer and defender Margaret Owen, one of the most senior figures in the United Kingdom in this field, came to the Old Bailey Criminal Court in London where the hearings are taking place to protest the trial and to express her opposition.
Owen, who is known for her admiration of the ideas of Abdullah Öcalan, was seen holding a banner bearing Öcalan’s image. She criticized the operation targeting Kurds in strong terms and said, “I will turn 94 in May, and I cannot believe how this country has changed. The operation carried out by criminalizing Kurds and portraying them as ‘terrorists’ has no humanitarian or legal basis. This country has now turned into a police state, and I cannot believe that I am living in such a country.”
Kurds are facing oppression in this country
Owen said they would never forget what happened during the operation targeting Kurds on 27 November 2024 and continued: “We will never forget this. We will never forget how armed police raided the homes and institutions of Kurds at 3:15 in the morning. The day after our foreign secretary met with the foreign minister of Turkey, the community center of the Kurdish people, a magnificent people, was raided. People were forced out into the cold. Women, and even children and young people, were beaten by armed police, and then six people were arrested. The magnificent Kurdish people, wherever you are, whether in this country, in Turkey, in Syria, in Iran, or in Iraq, you are under pressure and oppression everywhere. And now here, in this country, you, the Kurds who are being tried in court, are facing oppression in this country. Kurds are being arrested and put on trial.”
Owen described how the 27 November operation affected her emotionally and as a human being: “One of the six Kurdish activists who were arrested was the Kurdish writer, Ali Poyraz. Ali Poyraz was tried at the age of 17 during the 12 September coup and spent 21 years in prison in Turkey. Like the other activists, he was absolutely not a member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). They took the Kurds to a police station in Hammersmith, very close to my home. As soon as I learned that they were being held there, I went to the station, because as a lawyer I have the right to check whether people in custody are being treated properly. But the police did not even acknowledge that they were there. Then I asked whether I could leave a letter, a note, for Ali Poyraz; they did not respond. They did not even acknowledge that they were there. Then I walked home with tears running down my cheeks.”
Owen said that, as a human rights defender, what was being done to Kurds showed that the United Kingdom had now become a police state. She also said, “We are now on very slippery ground; we may no longer have an independent judiciary. What is happening in our justice system is extraordinary. They are accusing those six people, those six Kurds, not only of democratic activities but also of ‘assisting the PKK.’ This is complete nonsense. There is no evidence at all; absolutely no evidence. I say this as a lawyer. There is no evidence that these people are ‘terrorists.’”
Laws are being abused
Owen said the United Kingdom’s Counter-Terrorism Act was being abused and continued: “This case has also made it clear that the laws are being misused. We know that in Turkey, the administration of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan carries out what it calls ‘counter-terrorism’ in a way that targets political opponents. We know what Turkey has done to our wonderful Rojava in Syria. I have been to Rojava three times, and the model put forward by Öcalan was an example for the entire world. The model presented by Öcalan is an extraordinary model for peace, for equality, for women’s freedom, for the planet, and for freedom of belief.”
Owen also criticized the British media and said: “The real issue is that even our media does not properly report what is being done to Kurds in this country, Kurds who are living under pressure and oppression. I cannot believe this.” She held a flag bearing the image of Öcalan and added, “I am proud to wave my flag.”
Margaret Owen added that the trial criminalized the cultural and democratic rights of the Kurdish people and stressed: “This case against the Kurdish people is shameful.”
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