Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) plans to shut down the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the party’s spokesperson said on Tuesday, state-owned Turkish media reported.
“God willing, we will shut down the HDP in the eyes of the people,” Cahit Ozkan, a deputy parliamentary group chairman of AKP was quoted as saying by the state-owned Anadolu news agency.
“Our people have lost hope in this party. All 83 million are demanding that this party be politically shut at the ballots and legally within the framework of the constitutional order,” Ozkan added.
AKP and its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are accusing HDP of having ties to Kurdish militants, meaning to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Accusations were further stepped up after Turkish captives were executed in northern Iraq earlier this month, with the government arguing they were killed by PKK rebels, also announcing the detention of more than 700 people over alleged links to group.
PKK has been classified as a terrorist organisation by the US and Western countries, as well as by the European Parliament.
In February, Brussels warned Ankara over its increasing pressure against HDP, supporting that a member of the Council of Europe (CoE) and an EU candidate country, Turkey must respect human rights, rule of law and freedoms.