The Court of Cassation, Turkey’s highest court of appeals, has declined the request of the Green Left (Yeşil Sol) Party to change its name to the People’s Equality and Democracy Party (HEDEP) due to its acronym.
Citing concerns that the acronym HEDEP resembled the abbreviation of the previously closed People’s Democracy Party (HADEP), the Court of Cassation argued that this similarity violated the Political Parties Law.
The court sent a letter to HEDEP, requesting a modification in the abbreviation of the party’s name. HEDEP is set to decide on its next steps following a meeting with legal experts, Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reported.
Background
The Green Left Party, which was founded as an environmentalist and socialist party, became the new political platform for the pro-Kurdish movement in Turkey after the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) faced a closure case.
The HDP, which was the third-largest party in the parliament, was accused of having links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The closure case, which was initiated by the chief public prosecutor of the Court of Cassation, sought to ban 687 HDP members from politics, including former co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, and to seize the party’s assets.
In response to the closure case, the HDP’s members and executives switched to the Green Left Party, which ran in the May 2023 local elections instead of the HDP. The Green Left Party has 57 seats, making it the third-largest party in the parliament.
Following the elections, the Green Left Party changed its name to Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party, with the acronym HEDEP. The party said that the name change was a reflection of its inclusive and pluralist vision, and that it aimed to appeal to a broader segment of the society.
However, the name HEDEP also resembled previous pro-Kurdish parties, such as the HDP and the HADEP. The HADEP was the predecessor of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), which was also banned in 2009.
What the law says
Under the "Political Parties Law," names and symbols that cannot be used for political parties are specified as follows:
Article 96 – (Amended first paragraph: 19/6/1992 - 3821/8) Names, emblems, aliases, badges, and similar symbols of political parties permanently closed by the Constitutional Court or registered in the political party registry shall not be used by another political party in any way that directly or indirectly resembles them. Flags, emblems, and banners that belong to previously established Turkish states and have become the property of the public are also prohibited from use by political parties.
(Amended: 19/6/1992 - 3821/8) Newly established political parties cannot claim to be a continuation of political parties closed by the Constitutional Court and cannot make such assertions. Political parties cannot be established or operate under names that suggest communism, anarchism, fascism, theocracy, national socialism, religion, language, race, sect, or region, or use words that convey the same meaning in their party names.
(HA/VK)
