Closure case: Court of Cassation sues the HDP again

* Photo: Twitter account of HDP's Saruhan Oluç

Click to read the article in Turkish (1) (2) / Kurdish (1) (2)

The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office of the Court of Cassation has issued an indictment against the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) again and sent the indictment to the Constitutional Court, demanding the closure of the party and a political ban on nearly 500 HDP politicians.

As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), the indictment consists of nearly 850 pages and is signed by Chief Public Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation Bekir Şahin. In addition to the HDP's closure and a political ban for HDP politicians, Şahin's indictment has also requested that a cautionary judgement be imposed on the bank accounts of the party.

'Put the mafia on trial, not the HDP'

The HDP has denounced the second indictment seeking its closure on social media. In a statement made on the HDP Central Office Twitter account under the hashtag #HDPyiDeğilMafyayıYargıla (Put the mafia on trial, not the HDP), the party has referred to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) alliance within the context of the revelations of Sedat Peker, who is accused of leading a crime group:

"The mafia tells the history of AKP-MHP alliance. Peoples write the history of the HDP. Those who keep silent in the face of mafia's confessions want to update their power by attacking our party. We won't let it."

AKP-MHP ittifakının tarihini mafya anlatıyor. HDP'nin tarihini halklar yazıyor. Mafya itirafları karşısında suspus olanlar, partimize saldırarak iktidarını güncellemek istiyor. İzin vermeyeceğiz! #HDPyiDeğilMafyayıYargıla pic.twitter.com/uDNKcN66Mb

— HDP (@HDPgenelmerkezi) June 7, 2021

HDP Co-Chairs Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar have also slammed the closure case on their Twitter accounts.

In his message, Mithat Sancar has referred to the general elections in Turkey on June 7, 2015, which were held on November 1, 2015 again as the AKP could not receive enough votes to be the sole ruling party and a coalition government could not be formed:

"The ones who cannot handle the June 7 defeat keep on attacking hope on the anniversary of the defeat. You cannot whitewash your politics of plunder, order of mafia and alliance up to its chin in crimes by trying to close the HDP. HDP is hope and you cannot stifle hope."

7 Haziran yenilgisini hazmedemeyenler, yenilginin yıldönümünde umuda saldırmaya devam ediyor. Talan siyasetinizi, mafyatik düzeninizi, suça batmış ittifakınızı HDP'yi kapatmaya çalışarak temize çıkaramazsınız. HDP umuttur, umudu boğamayacaksınız! #HDPyiDeğilMafyayıYargıla

— Mithat Sancar (@mithatsancarr) June 7, 2021

In her message about the issue, Pervin Buldan has said, "HDP is hope, it is a call for a new life and women's struggle for freedom. You won't manage to cause these smiles to fade with your mafia law."

HDP umuttur, yeni yaşama çağrıdır, kadınların özgürlük mücadelesidir. Bu umudu, bu gülüşleri mafya hukukunuzla solduramayacaksınız. #HDPyiDeğilMafyayıYargıla

— Pervin BULDAN (@PervinBuldan) June 7, 2021

What happened?

The Court of Cassation launched an inquiry against the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) on March 2, 2021 and Chief Public Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation Bekir Şahin applied to the Constitutional Court on March 17, 2021, demanding the closure of the HDP.

In its session on March 31, the General Assembly of the Constitutional Court conducted the first examination on the indictment lodged by Chief Public Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation Bekir Şahin.

Finding procedural deficiencies in the indictment, the General Assembly ruled that the application should be returned to the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office of the Court of Cassation to rectify the deficiencies.

The Constitutional Court rapporteur assigned with examining the HDP indictment requested on March 30 that the indictment be returned to the Court of Cassation due to procedural deficiencies. (KÖ/SD)