Multilingual Diyarbakir Municipality on Trial

The court trial against Abdullah Demirbas, former mayor of the Sur (City Walls) municipality of Diyarbakir, as well as 19 members of the municipal council and Osman Baydemir, mayor of Greater Diyarbakir, has begun.

Services in four languages 

Abdullah Demirbas was forced from office by the State Council's 8th Chamber in June for offering municipal services not only in Turkish, but also in Kurdish, Armenian and Syriac. He had also been accused of "spreading propaganda for a terrorist organisation or its aims", but was acquitted in that trial.

The twenty-one defendants are charged with "harming the public by abusing their position" (Article 257 of the Turkish Penal Code) and "acting in contradiction with the hat and Turkish letters" (Article 222). Punishments between 1 year and 2 months and 3 years and 6 months are being demanded.

Demirbas, Baydemir and the 19 council members, all undetained, were present at the trial opening, as well as 12 defense lawyers.

Baydemir: Who is committing a crime? 

Osman Baydemir said in his defense, "I wonder if we committed a crime, or if the political authority protecting existing laws and existing structures is. I think this has to be discussed."

Demirbas: Why only Diyarbakir?  

Demirbas pointed out the Kurdish was still forbidden in the public sphere and said, "The fact that this decision is valid for Kurdish, Armenian and Syriac in particular is discrimination."

Pointing out that other municipalities offered multilingual services but had not been prosecuted: "If it is a crime to publish in other languages, then why have we been targeted with such a trial and other municipalities have not?"

Demirbas might have been referring to the municipalities of Antalya and Alanya in the south of the country. Due to tourism and a considerable number of foreign people settling in the area, these municipalities offer their website information in German, English and Polish as well as Turkish. The Alanya website also offers a Dutch version.

Tanrikulu: Where is the damage to the public? 

Lawyer Sezgin Tanrikulu, president of the Diyarbakir Bar Association, said: "Article 257 looks at damage to the public. Here it is not clear who has suffered in what way. I am not able to understand what kind of crime is supposed to have been committed."

Erbey: Article 222 violates constitution 

Muharrem Erbey, the lawyer representing Osman Baydemir, argued that Article 222 threatened the liberalisation and reforms of the constitution and made a written appeal arguing that the article contravened the constitution.

Article 222 foresees a punishment of between two and six months for anyone violating the 1925 Law on Wearing a Hat, which Atatürk introduced instead of the Fes, and the 1928 Law on the Acceptance and Practice of Turkish Letters.

The court rejected Erbey's claim that Article 222 violates 26 articles of the constitution.

The court trial will continue on 29 February 2008.

Wide support for defendants 

Representatives of the Legal Research Assocation (HUDER), the Association for Human Rights and Solidarity with the Oppressed (MAZLUMDER), as well as lawyers from the Human Rights Association (IHD) and the Diyarbakir Bar Association were at the trial to support the defendants. (EÖ/EÜ/AG)