Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party under pressure as calls increase for its closure
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party faces renewed pressure in Turkey amid rising calls for its closure and recent court decisions that could see one of its lawmakers removed from parliament.
ISTANBUL — Turkey’s third-largest opposition party, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), is under mounting pressure amid a slew of legal proceedings and rising calls for its closure by nationalist politicians in Ankara.
Government officials have long accused the party of fostering links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and HDP members are being increasingly targeted after the deaths of 13 Turkish hostages in Iraqi Kurdistan earlier this month, who Ankara claims were executed by PKK militants during an attempted rescue operation.
In the fallout from the event, Turkish police detained 718 people on Feb. 15, including HDP officials, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has since vowed to step up a campaign against the party. This comes as ongoing legal proceedings may lead to the lifting of immunities for nine HDP lawmakers to be prosecuted on terror-related charges, while a separate court decision could see one HDP official removed from parliament, possibly this week.
At the same time, Erdogan ally and chair of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Devlet Bahceli, has reiterated calls to close the HDP, saying his party would soon apply to begin the process in a Feb. 16 speech.
