Possible closure of political party dampens Nowruz for Turkey’s Kurds
Kurds see the case against the Peoples’ Democratic Party as the latest effort to undermine their place in society.
ISTANBUL — As Kurds across Turkey flocked to celebrate the Nowruz spring festival, they did so under the shadow of a court case that threatens to close the political party representing many Kurdish hopes for the future.
Revelers dressed in colorful traditional clothes and waving red, green and yellow flags last week gathered at Nowruz celebrations in the southeastern heartland of Turkey’s Kurds as well as in cities such as Istanbul and Izmir in the west.
The festivities were organized by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which in 2015 became the first political party rooted in the Kurdish movement to enter parliament.
For a year now, a court case has threatened to close the party, which currently has 56 deputies in the 600-member assembly, making it the third-largest party. The case before the Constitutional Court also calls for 451 HDP politicians to be banned from politics based on claims of the HDP’s links to the illegal Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
