A newly formed leftist party in Turkey, the Party of Socialists (SOLDEP), is facing potential closure for including clauses in its charter that defend the rights of the Kurdish people, including their right to self-determination.
The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office of the Court of Cassation sent a notice to SOLDEP, demanding the removal of phrases such as "defending the rights of the Kurdish people" and "the right of nations to self-determination." The notice claims these phrases are unconstitutional.
Those who founded the SOLDEP split from the Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) last year, criticizing it for not adhering to Marxist principles in its approach to the Kurdish issue. SOLDEP was officially registered as a political party on July 10.
The prosecutor's notice also deemed the party's advocacy for minority rights and Kurdish-language education as criminal. The notice stated, "The expressions in the aforementioned clauses of the party program characterize Kurdish citizens, who are an integral element of the Republic of Turkey, as a minority.
“It advocates for the struggle for education in their mother tongue, and defends the right of elements to self-determination, including the right to secession, and asserts the existence of nations other than the Turkish nation..."
Only Armenians, Greeks (Rum) and Jews are officially recognized as minorities in Turkey. The Kurds, Turkey's second-largest ethnic group, along with several other ethnicities, are considered Turkish citizens but are not specifically recognized as distinct groups
SOLDEP has been given 60 days to comply with the changes or face closure under Article 104/1 of the Political Parties Law.
Since the closure of the Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP) in 1971, several parties have been targeted for expressing views on Kurdish self-governance and cultural rights.
The Constitutional Court's decision to close TİP was partly based on a clause in its charter that called for Kurdish and Turkish socialists to work together for a socialist revolution. This decision has since served as a precedent for the closure of other parties advocating for Kurdish rights. (VK)