“Verdict to close HDP could come one day before elections”

A ruling in the closure case against the HDP could come just one day before the elections, HDP Deputy Co-Chair Serhat Eren said on Sunday, adding that the timing creates uncertainty over his party that should be ended by Turkey's Constitutional Court.

“The Constitutional Court gave the government the opportunity to shape our situation regarding the elections, by postponing our defense date before May 14,” Eren said.

Turkey's Constitutional Court is hearing a case aimed at closing the HDP over alleged ties to Kurdish PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) militants, which the party denies.

The timing of a verdict was unclear, but the court rejected an HDP request to delay a ruling until after the elections.

The court will hear the HDP's defense on the freezing of its bank accounts on April 11, but it remains unclear when the court will deliver its final ruling on the party closure case.

“If the Court hears our defense on April 11, it could give a verdict in say three days, a week, 10 days, meaning on a date before May 14. For this reason, we did not find it appropriate and lawful for the Constitutional Court to grant only one month. This decision did not remove the uncertainty regarding our party. The AYM should end this uncertainty,” Eren said.

The HDP, which won 11.7% of the vote in the 2018 parliamentary election, is not part of Turkey's six-party opposition alliance.

However, its mainly Kurdish supporters helped the opposition alliance to defeat AKP mayoral candidates in Istanbul, Ankara and other Turkish cities in 2019.