The government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expanding its repression plan to its opponents in Turkey. In particular, it aims to disband the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), according to the vice-chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party parliamentary group, the highest-ranking official to date to have accepted the nationalists’ demand.
The government Erdogan and its allies, the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) accuse HDP of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The allegations escalated recently after the bodies of 13 Turks abducted by Kurdish rebels in Ankara were found in a cave in northern Iraq.
The MHP has repeatedly called for the closure of the HDP, accusing it of links to the PKK, an organization that Turkey, the European Union and the United States have described as “terrorist”. HDP denies the charge. The third largest party in the Turkish parliament also faced a barrage of legal action to lift the immunity of its members.
“God willing, we will close the HDP in the eyes of the people,” said Jahit Ozkan, one of the vice-presidents of the AKP parliamentary group, according to the Anadolu agency and as broadcast by APE-MPE. “Our people have lost hope in this party. “And the 83 million want to close politically in the polls and legally within the framework of the constitutional order,” he added.
Earlier in the day, President Erdogan announced plans to strengthen democratic freedoms, such as the right to a fair trial and freedom of expression.
His ally, MHP leader Devlet Bahceli, reiterated his call for the HDP to be shut down and steps taken to prevent it from being re-established under a different name, as had been the case in the past.
“The closure of the HDP is urgent, vital and imperative. “From the nails to the top, the HDP is the swamp of corruption and terror,” he claimed.
In recent years, thousands of HDP executives and members have been arrested and dozens of elected mayors ousted. This move, if it really goes ahead, will plunge even more into the “darkness” a country that is constantly conservative.
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