US condemns Turkey's efforts to shutter opposition party

Turkey’s moves to shutter the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the country’s second-largest opposition grouping in the parliament, drew sharp criticism from the Joe Biden administration late Wednesday. The State Department said the decision to dissolve the HDP as demanded in a Turkish prosecutor’s lawsuit filed March 17 “would unduly subvert the will of Turkish voters, further undermine democracy in Turkey and deny millions of Turkish citizens their chosen representation.”

The statement called the stripping of HDP deputy Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu’s parliamentary immunity also on March 17 “troubling” and said the United States was “closely monitoring events in Turkey.” Gergerlioglu, an ethnic Turk, has earned respect across Turkey’s deeply polarized landscape for his selflessly brave advocacy of victims of torture and government abuse. The parliament revoked his status after a court ruled in February to uphold a two and a half year prison sentence for the deputy for sharing a news article on his Twitter feed calling for the resumption of peace talks between the government and outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party militants.

The tough language will have come as something of a cold shower for Hasan Murat Mercan, a senior member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) who assumed his duties this week as Turkey’s new ambassador to Washington.

Mercan has carved a mission for himself of improving rocky relations between the NATO allies. But Ankara’s unremitting assault on rights and freedoms is poised to undercut him at every step. Turkey has repeatedly declared that it will not bow to US pressure and permanently mothball newly acquired Russian-made S-400 missiles, which are at the center of the meltdown. Turkey’s defiance triggered sanctions on Turkey’s state defense procurement agency under the Countering America’s Adversaries Act.