ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The jailed former co-chair of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) said on Friday that his party will not give up its democratic struggle, even if it is shut down. The HDP is facing the threat of closure on charges of “disrupting” the Turkish state.
“Regardless of the result, we will never deviate from the path of democracy and peace. We will continue our struggle through the law and we will definitely win,” said Selahattin Demirtas in a tweet posted by his lawyers.
On Wednesday, Turkey’s top prosecutor filed an indictment in the Constitutional Court demanding the closure of the HDP. The 609-page filing from Chief Prosecutor Bekir Sahin claims that HDP members have attempted to “disrupt and eliminate” the unity of the Turkish state through their statements and activities. It also seeks to ban 600 HDP members from engaging in politics for five years.
Demirtas said the potential shutdown of the HDP “is not only the bottom of immorality, but also is a serious constitutional crime.”
The HDP has been under pressure for years, accused of being the political wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a charge the party denies. Members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) have called for the party’s closure.
Because the PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Ankara, scores of HDP supporters, members, and officials have been arrested on terror-related charges, including Demirtas and his former co-chair Figen Yuksekdag who were arrested in November 2016 for alleged links to the PKK.
On the same day the indictment was filed, Omer Gergerlioglu, an outspoken lawmaker for the HDP, was expelled from the parliament for a tweet he posted in 2016.
