A Kurdish woman was sentenced to more than six years in prison for alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Artı Gerçek news website reported.
Halise Aksoy was convicted by the Diyarbakır 10th Criminal Court, accused of “membership in a terrorist organization” and “harboring and aiding terrorists.” Witness statements were used as evidence against her. Her lawyers, Zeynep Karayılan and Nevzat Çicek, had argued that a witness statement alone could not be considered tangible evidence.
Aksoy had been in pretrial detention since April 2023, despite ongoing health issues. Her son was killed in a clash with the Turkish military in Tunceli province in 2017, and his remains were handed over to his mother in a box.
The PKK, designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, has been waging a bloody war in Turkey’s southeast since 1984. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict.
Aksoy has been outspoken about the treatment of her son’s remains and told her story to journalists. According to her lawyers her choice to go public led to her becoming a suspect, too, and the elderly woman has been harassed by the police ever since. Her house was raided on multiple occasions, and she was briefly detained in 2022.
Her lawyers argue that Aksoy’s incarceration is based on her child’s affiliation with a terrorist group and that the woman herself is not linked to any terrorist activity, demanding her immediate release.
