Turkey Puts 108 Pro-Kurdish Party Officials on Trial

ISTANBUL - One hundred and eight prominent members of Turkey's pro-Kurdish HDP went on trial in the capital, Ankara, Monday in connection with violent nationwide protests in 2014 that left 37 people dead.

The protests were against the government's failure to militarily intervene as the Islamic State was poised to overrun the predominantly Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane, on Turkey's border. Speaking outside the courthouse Monday, HDP co-chair Mithat Sancar said the trial is politically motivated. "The party official called this a case of revenge which he said is the product of the defeats that the HDP has made the government suffer," Sancar said.