Turkish prosecutor's office accuses pro-Kurdish opposition party of 'terrorist activities' and calls for its dissolution

The chief prosecutor of Turkey's Supreme Court of Appeals, Bekir Şahin, on Wednesday filed a lawsuit to dissolve the third most represented political party in parliament and the country's main pro-Kurdish formation, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), accused of terrorist activities.

In the document submitted to the Constitutional Court, the prosecutor accuses HDP members of instigating "activities aimed at destroying and abolishing the indivisible unity of the state with its country and nation". The chief prosecutor added in the lawsuit that the HDP is an "anti-democratic party" and is "in collusion with the PKK terrorist group".

"The fact that the party has not condemned terrorism is accepted as sufficient justification for its dissolution by the European Court of Human Rights," Şahin argued in the indictment. The pro-Kurdish opposition party is accused of maintaining links with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and its affiliated groups. An organisation listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, as well as by the European Union and the United States.

The lawsuit has yet to be accepted by the Supreme Court - the institution that will ultimately hear the case - before a trial date is set. If the Turkish judiciary upholds the charge, the HDP would be dissolved for violating article 68 of the constitution, Şahin said. In Turkey, it is the Constitutional Court that is responsible for ruling on the closure of political formations. However, the Constitutional Court has the power to choose other types of sentences depending on the seriousness of the facts, such as blocking state funding.

Bekir Şahin was ranked fourth among the candidates nominated by the Grand General Assembly of the Supreme Court of Appeals, however, he was finally appointed by President Erdogan on 4 June 2020. According to the constitution, chief prosecutors of the Supreme Court are selected by the president from among the five available candidates, a mechanism that dilutes judicial independence.

The HDP denies its links to the PKK, denouncing persecution by the Turkish government. The party called the indictment a "severe blow to democracy", and called on "all democratic forces, all social and political opposition forces and our people to fight together". 

Earlier, HDP MP Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu was expelled from his seat in parliament. The move came after the Turkish judiciary decided to uphold a two-year prison sentence against him for spreading terrorist propaganda on social media in 2016. Under Turkish law, if a conviction against an MP is final, he or she cannot enjoy immunity and could be removed from his or her seat.

Gergerlioglu is known for his human rights work and for his harsh criticism of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He has been an MP for the Peoples' Democratic Party since 2018, and has since been accused of terrorism by several government ministers, including interior minister Suleyman Soylu.

"I will resist this coup in parliament," the HDP MP assures. "This is not a matter of Gergerlioglu or the HDP, but a matter of democracy. "Punishments and fictitious verdicts cannot take away the representation and the will of the nation. I resist, we resist. Our real democracy watch, our resistance continues," he added.

Turkish leaders have long maintained that the HDP is the political arm of the PKK terrorist organisation. The group has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, according to Turkish authorities.

Since last 2016, thousands of HDP party members have been persecuted and imprisoned on terrorism charges. Charges that, according to the international community, are of dubious credibility. Those detained include former party chairmen Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdag, as well as eight other deputies from the group. 

Demirtaş himself faces a prison sentence of up to 142 years for his actions during the 2014 protests. In December 2020, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered Demirtaş's immediate release after finding Turkey guilty of violating his fundamental rights. The Turkish authorities have refused to comply with the ECtHR's order and Demirtaş remains imprisoned.

The prosecutor's latest indictment, which includes a series of bans on the political functions of 600 HDP members, comes in response to growing demands by several political leaders for the dissolution of the pro-Kurdish party. The leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, Devlet Bahçeli, has expressed his support for the prosecution of the HDP: "It is a criminal organisation in political guise. Its closure, without being allowed to reopen under another name, is a duty of honour to history, justice, our nation and the generations to come".

Following Gergerlioglu's expulsion, the HDP retains 55 seats in parliament, while Erdogan's Justice and Development Party has 289. The main opposition Republican People's Party retains 136 seats, the Nationalist Movement Party 48 and the Good Party 36.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price said the decision would "unduly subvert the will of Turkish voters, further undermine democracy in Turkey, and deny millions of Turkish citizens the representation they have chosen". Washington thus calls on the Ankara government to "respect freedom of expression in accordance with the protections of the Turkish Constitution and Turkey's international obligations".

"For six years, the HDP has suffered legal and even physical attacks by Turkish authorities," said Marc Behrendt, director of Europe and Eurasia programmes at Freedom House. "But Gergerlioglu's expulsion from parliament and the opening of a court case aimed at shutting down the party represent major new threats to political freedom and pluralism in Turkey."

"Any move to strip Gergerlioglu of his seat would appear to be retaliation by the Erdogan government for his courageous stand in support of thousands of victims of human rights violations," said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Gergerlioglu's conviction is a blatant violation of his right to freedom of expression, and using it as a pretext to expel him from parliament would show a profound disregard for democratic norms and the right to political association."