Turkey’s history of banning parties

Turkey’s top appeals court prosecutor has filed a case with the Constitutional Court to close the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the third largest party in parliament.

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. But there have been few such cases since President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party came to power in 2002.

Islamist-leaning parties have also been banned in previous decades, with Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AKP itself surviving a closure case in 2008. Since then, Erdogan has expressed his opposition to shutting parties.

Turkey has banned almost 20 parties since the adoption of a military-inspired constitution in 1982, two years after a military coup. Members of banned parties have typically regrouped under a new name.

Here are details of some major party closure cases.

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.