Top prosecutor files case to close Turkey’s third biggest party, US and EU condemn move

A top Turkish prosecutor filed a case with the constitutional court on Wednesday demanding the closure of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), in the culmination of a years-long clampdown on parliament’s third largest party.

Turkey has a long history of shutting down political parties which it regards as a threat and has in the past banned a series of other pro-Kurdish parties.

The United States and Europe have criticised the move by Turkey , a week before EU leaders are due to discuss strained relations with Ankara at a summit.

The U.S. State Department said dissolving the HDP “would unduly subvert the will of Turkish voters, further undermine democracy  in Turkey, and deny millions of Turkish citizens their chosen representation”.

“Unapologetically (moving) towards the end of pluralism. What reaction does Turkey expect now from the European Union? A positive agenda?” said Nacho Sanchez Amor, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, which is a candidate for EU membership though accession talks have been stalled for years.

The HDP had recently come under intensified pressure, with nationalist allies of President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party (AKP) calling for it to be banned over alleged ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group.

That has coincided with falling poll support for the AKP and its nationalist allies as Erdogan’s government battles the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. Elections are not scheduled until 2023.

The HDP said prosecutors acted on political orders and accused the ruling AK Party of shaping politics through the courts.

“The closure case launched against our party is a heavy blow to democracy and law,” the HDP said in a statement, adding that its “determined struggle for democratic politics” would continue.

The embattled lira extended losses on concerns about the political impact of the move, weakening 2% to 7.64 against the dollar.

“(The HDP) move together with the PKK terrorist group and other linked organisations, they act as a branch of the organisation with the aim of breaking the unity of the state,” appeals court chief prosecutor Bekir Sahin said in a statement.

The HDP, which has 55 seats in the 600-member parliament, denies any links to the militants.

The PKK is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union. It has fought an insurgency against the state in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey since 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

The U.S. State Department said in a statement a decision to dissolve the HDP “would unduly subvert the will of Turkish voters, further undermine democracy  in Turkey, and deny millions of Turkish citizens their chosen representation.”

The Haberturk news website cited the indictment as saying the prosecutor demanded a political ban for more than 600 HDP officials, including its current co-chairs and the jailed former leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag.

The prosecutor also demanded financial restrictions on the party, including a halt to financial aid from the Treasury and a cautionary judgment on the party’s assets, Haberturk said.

HISTORY OF PARTY CLOSURES

Islamist parties have also been banned in previous decades, with Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AK Party itself surviving a closure case in 2008. In years since, Erdogan has repeatedly expressed his opposition to closing parties down.

HDP co-leaders Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar said earlier this month that if shut down the party’s members would regroup under a different banner, as was done in the past when similar parties were closed.

The HDP first took part in elections in 2014, espousing broadly left-wing and pro-minority policies which helped it appeal beyond its grassroots support in the mainly Kurdish southeast to liberal voters elsewhere. In 2018 parliamentary elections it won 11.7% of the vote, or nearly 6 million votes.

Earlier on Wednesday Turkey’s parliament stripped prominent HDP deputy and human rights advocate Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu of his seat over a criminal conviction for spreading “terrorist propaganda” in a social media post.

The HDP says Gergerlioglu, who received a 2-1/2 year jail sentence, was punished for sharing on Twitter the link to a news story that included comments from the PKK.

The U.S. State Department said the move against Gergerlioglu was “troubling”.

This month Erdogan announced a plan to strengthen rights to a fair trial and freedom of expression, but his critics say it is just a public relations exercise.

Major party closures in Turkey 

1992 – Socialist Party — The Constitutional Court ordered the closure of the Socialist Party, accused of acting against the integrity of the country. It also ordered the party’s assets transferred to the Treasury.

1993 – People’s Labour Party (HEP) — The Constitutional Court banned the pro-Kurdish HEP, and ordered four of its deputies to leave parliament. The court said some of the speeches by the HEP’s former leader and actions of the party itself violated the constitution. At the time HEP had 16 deputies in parliament.

1998 – Welfare Party — The Islamist party was shut down and its leader and former prime minister Necmettin Erbakan and other key members were banned from holding political posts for five years. A nascent Islam-based group, the Virtue Party, rapidly attracted deputies from Welfare.

2001 – Virtue Party — The Islamist party was the main opposition with 102 of 550 seats. It was banned on charges of being a hotbed of Islamist and anti-secular activities. The court expelled two members from parliament and imposed political bans on five more.

2003 – People’s Democracy Party (HADEP) — The court outlawed the pro-Kurdish HADEP, ruling it had close links to Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants.

2008 – AK Party — The court narrowly rejected a case to shut Erdogan’s ruling party, in power since 2002, but found it guilty of anti-secular activities and imposed financial penalties.

2009 – Democratic Society Party (DTP) — The DTP was the latest in a series of pro-Kurdish parties to be banned. The Constitutional Court ruled it had links to the PKK. The court ban on the DTP sparked days of unrest in southeast Turkey.