28 October 2009 / TODAY’S ZAMAN WITH WIRES , İSTANBUL
Diyarbakır’s Sur district mayor, Abdullah Demirbaş, who had been the defendant in a court case alleging that he had promoted the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has been acquitted after a court hearing in Diyarbakır.
Demirbaş, a member of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), who had been released on bail, was represented by his lawyer, Sertaç Eke. The prosecution stated its case during the hearing, while Eke presented a four-page document to the court. Recalling that Demirbaş had said, “People may have different eye color, but the tears of a guerilla and a soldier are the same,” Eke said Demirbaş’s statement resembles that of PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Demirbaş and his municipality’s council had been removed from office in June 2007 for their controversial decision to provide municipal information to locals in both Turkish and Kurdish. Later, in the local elections held on March 29, Demirbaş was re-elected as mayor.
