Bahçeli targets Constitutional Court, HDP again

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Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli, an ally of the government, has once again targeted the Constitutional Court and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

"Is there a sturdy democrat who knows another formula to cut the PKK's [Kurdistan Workers' Party] leg in the parliament than closing the HDP?" he said at his party's parliamentary group meeting yesterday (February 16).

"If the duty falls upon us, which will happen in a short time, the MHP will fully exercise its right arising from article 100 of the Law on Political Parties and make its historic application," he said.

According to the mentioned law, parties that have a group in the parliament can make an application to the Court of Cassation for the closure of another party.

Following the deaths of 13 security personnel held by the PKK in Iraq during a military operation to rescue them, the ruling bloc targeted the HDP again, accusing it to be working with the PKK.

The HDP has faced a legal crackdown since the aftermath of the 2016 coup attempt, having its mayors removed from office due to alleged "terror" links and hundreds of its members, including former MPs, sent to prison.

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Bahçeli also criticized the Constitutional Court because it found rights violations in several cases, including those of the HDP's imprisoned former co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, exiled journalist Can Dündar and imprisoned rights defender Osman Kavala.

"To whom the Constitutional Court is serving? Whose court is it? Are rights only valid for those who are striving to disrupt Turkey's constitutional order?" he said.

He also said the reinstatement of a Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy, Enis Berberoğlu, as a lawmaker following a top court decision caused by the court's misinterpreting of the law.

"If the Constitutional Court won't be the nation's court, if it will continue to support those who violate Turkey's sovereign and historical rights, it should immediately dissolve itself and the person who heads it should resign without delay.

"It's odd that what global circles impose and dictate on our country and the Constitutional Court decisions are significantly similar.

"Isn't the US State Department spokesperson's call for the release of Osman Kavala an attack and disrespect our sovereign rights and the rule of law?

"Does the Constitutional Court, which says it adopts a rights-oriented approach, have anything to say to the outer powers that are sided against our national rights?" (DŞ/VK)