SULAIMANI (ESTA) — A top Turkish prosecutor refiled a case with the constitutional court demanding the closure of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) for alleged ties to militants, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.
In March, the court sent back a similar indictment on procedural grounds for lack of details. The latest indictment demanded a political ban on some 500 party members and a block on HDP’s bank accounts, Anadolu said.
Turkey has a long history of shutting down political parties seen as a threat and has in the past banned a series of other Kurdish parties.
The prosecutor’s move in March was the culmination of a years-long crackdown on the HDP, parliament’s third-largest party, under which thousands of its members were tried on mainly terrorism charges.
The party denies links to terrorism and called the move a “political coup”.
In a written statement, the prosecutor said the HDP committed crimes against the independence of the state and its unbreakable unity with its country and people, according to Anadolu.
(Esta Media Network/Reuters)
