The jailed former leader of the HDP, Turkey’s largest pro-Kurdish party, fired shots at Recep Tayyip Erdogan. THE Selahattin Demirtas accused the Turkish president of seeking to secure victory in the next elections, trying in an “illegal” way to ban the People’s Democratic Party (HDP).
S. Demirtas has been imprisoned on charges of “terrorism” since 2016, the year his party’s crackdown intensified. His continued detention, despite repeated appeals by the European Court of Human Rights for his release, has made him, for many non-governmental organizations, one of the main symbols of democracy’s retreat in Turkey following his failed 2016 coup.
Dozens of elected HDP officials have been arrested or fired in the last five years. On Wednesday, Turkish authorities called for the party to be outlawed, accusing it of links to a “terrorist organization”, which the HDP categorically denies.
“The real reason they want to shut down the HDP is so that (Erdogan) can win the next election,” Demitras told AFP in an interview. His questions were asked through his lawyer.
“This reason is enough to consider the banning process illegal. “I hope that the Constitutional Court will not take this case seriously and will reject the request,” he added.
Other HDP officials have accused Erdogan of wanting to ban the party ahead of the next parliamentary and presidential elections in 2023, which are expected to be difficult for him due to Turkey’s financial woes.
The HDP became the “black sheep” of the Turkish president after he contributed to the deprivation of his ruling party of the parliamentary majority, in the parliamentary elections of June 2015. Despite the repression, he managed in all subsequent electoral processes to exceed the limit of 10 % to enter parliament, where it is currently the second largest opposition party.
The party’s ban was initiated by a prosecutor who appealed to the Constitutional Court, arguing that the HDP is affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is considered a “terrorist organization” by Turkey and its Western allies.
“The fact that we are still talking about a ban on political parties in 2021 shows that democracy has not matured in Turkey and that the mentality of repression persists,” Demirtas said.
The HDP points out that it has “plan B and plan C”, referring for example to the establishment of a new party, if it is banned. “Whatever obstacles stand in front of us, our political movement will continue to grow,” Demirtas said.
Reconstituting HDP under another name may prove to be an extremely complicated process. In addition to shutting down the party, the prosecutor is calling for more than 600 of its executives to be barred from political activity for five years.
“I have been imprisoned for five years and, as a result, I cannot hold a political office. This situation did not exclude me from my battle, nor from politics. “Even if I am not a member of any party or a candidate for any position, I will continue to fight,” Demirtas concluded.
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