Lekha G –
The Constitutional Court of Turkey has accepted an indictment seeking ban on the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) for allegedly maintaining ties with militants.
The case is a result of a long history of thousands of members of the HDP being tried on terrorism-related charges.
However, the party had denied links to terrorism and said the case is a “Political operation”.
In March, the Top Court had sent the indictment back to the Court of Cassation prosecutor due to procedural omissions in the document and a lawsuit was refiled by the prosecutor earlier this month.
According to reports from a State-owned Anadolu news agency, the indictment demands a block on HDP’s bank accounts and a political ban on 500 party members.
Turkey has had a history of banning political parties seen as a threat and has banned other pro-Kurdish parties as well in the past.