İstanbul mayor sends Newroz wishes to HDP co-chair, says closure case 'undemocratic'

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İstanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu has had a phone conversation with Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Pervin Buldan to mark Newroz, a holiday celebrated by the Kurds usually between March 18 and 24.

İmamoğlu told Buldan that he considered the case filed for the closure of the HDP and MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu's expulsion from the parliament "against democracy," the HDP press office said in a statement.

On Wednesday (March 17), the chief prosecutor of the Court of Cassation filed a lawsuit seeking the closure of the party for its alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Also, Gergerlioğlu was stripped of his parliamentary mandate because of his conviction for "terror propaganda."

CLICK - CHP deputies visit HDP, express solidarity 

İmamoğlu said they would continue to "bond the cornerstones of democracy," according to the statement.

Buldan also wished a happy Newroz to İmamoğlu and expressed her solidarity with the mayor against the monetary fine he was given for insulting the governor of Ordu province.

İmamoğlu, a member of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), also sent Women's Day wishes to Buldan on Twitter on March 8. The two politicians, accompanied by İmamoğlu's spouse, planted trees in a "women's memory forest" in İstanbul.

The HDP did not nominate a candidate for the İstanbul mayor in the 2019 local elections, in a move that is thought to have helped İmamoğlu end the 25-year rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its predecessors in İstanbul. (RT/VK)