Lawsuit filed to close pro-Kurdish party after lawmaker stripped of parliamentary seat

Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu, a pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party deputy known to focus on human rights abuses, was stripped of his parliament seat and a lawsuit was filed to close the party March 17.
Turkish member of Parliament for the left wing political party Peoples' Democratic Party Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu (C) reacts as he is surrounded by MPs applauding and brandishing placards after he was dismissed following a vote at the Turkish Parliament in Ankara, on March 17, 2021. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu (C), a member of the Turkish parliament for the Peoples' Democratic Party, reacts as he is surrounded by legislators applauding and brandishing placards after he was dismissed following a vote at the Turkish parliament in Ankara, on March 17, 2021. - ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images
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Diego Cupolo
@diegocupolo

ISTANBUL — Amid a growing crackdown on Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), a lawmaker was stripped of his parliamentary seat March 17 following a conviction for spreading terrorist propaganda in a 2016 social media post.

Later in the day, a Turkish prosecutor filed a lawsuit with Turkey’s Constitutional Court seeking to officially shutter the HDP entirely.

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