HDP applies top court to postpone decision over closure case after elections

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) on Monday filed another application to the Constitutional Court (AYM), demanding the postponement of its ruling over the party’s closure case after elections.

HDP’s co-Chair Mithat Sancar said they demanded that all proceedings to be suspended until the elections and to continue after the vote, Diken news website reported.

The HDP, Turkish parliament’s third largest party with 56 deputies is facing closure for alleged terror links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a claim that it denies.

On Jan.5, the Constitutional Court has ruled to temporarily block HDP’s Treasury funding accounts as part of the closure case, a move that would be a major blow to the pro-Kurdish party ahead of this year’s parliamentary and presidential elections.

After HDP's defense that is expected to be presented by Feb.4, the Court will decide whether the accounts should be permanently blocked or unblocked. The party was set to receive 539 million lira ($29 million) for 2023, 179 million lira ($9.6 million) of which was to be received on Jan 10.

Sancar said this case is political in nature.

“The purpose of this case is to suppress democratic politics. The purpose of this case is to implement the plans to liquidate the HDP,” he said.

However, according to the universal legal standards to which Turkey is a party, the proceedings cannot be based on political goals and motives in any way, Sancar said.

“As the European Convention on Human Rights explicitly prohibits this, the European Court of Human Rights has very clear decisions on the issue,” he said.