HDP says 'We won't bow down' after closure case

HDP deputies protest expulsion of an MP at the parliament. (Photo: HDP)

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The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has said that the closure case against it is a "heavy blow" to the country's democracy and law.

"The AKP-MHP government has lost its democratic legitimacy and is trying to survive with the means of coercion and oppression," the party said in a written statement.

The chief public prosecutor of the Court of Cassation today (March 17) filed a case at the Constitutional Court for the closure of the party, alleging that it had become a political extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Earlier in the day, HDP deputy Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu was stripped of MP status after his prison sentence for "terrorist propaganda" because a Twitter post was approved by the Court of Cassation.

The HDP stated that it would convene an extraordinary meeting tomorrow to evaluate the developments.

"They are now trying to purge the HDP, which they couldn't outclass intellectually, politically and at the polls, from democratic politics by the means of judiciary. Their aggression arises from the deep fear they experience," the statement says.

"The HDP is not only a party but also an idea. Millions of people are united around this idea. Millions of people will claim their political will and future.

"The AKP-MHP government has lost its democratic legitimacy and is trying to survive with the means of coercion and oppression

"The AKP-MHP government should know this very well: Whatever it does, we will never bow down, we will never kneel and we will never compromise on democratic politics, we will continue our democratic resistance with a determined struggle."

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli has been calling on the Court of Cassation to take action for the HDP's closure over the past few months. 

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The crackdown on the HDP

After the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) ended what it called the "resolution process" to the Kurdish question during the period of conflict in the Kurdish-majority southeastern provinces in mid-2015 and early 2016, it has clamped down on the HDP, accusing it of being linked to the PKK.

Dozens of politicians of the party, including its former co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, have been behind bars since 2016.

The Ministry of Interior has dismissed 48 of the 65 HDP mayors in predominantly Kurdish regions since the 2019 local elections, citing "terror" investigations and cases against them.

More than 100 HDP members, including the party's co-chair Pervin Buldan and MPs, are facing aggravated life sentences in a case concerning the 2014 Kobanê protests in the region.

A total of 25 HDP deputies currently face losing legislative immunity over various cases against them. (EKN/VK)