The Constitutional Court accepted an indictment seeking the closure of the pro-PKK Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey over the party's links to the terrorists.
Turkey's chief prosecutor refiled an indictment seeking the dissolution of the HDP. In response, the Constitutional Court assigned a rapporteur to the case.
Bekir Şahin, the chief public prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals, refiled the 850-page indictment in the Constitutional Court, and it was sent to the Supreme Court, also called the Court of Cassation. The indictment asks for a political ban on nearly 500 party members and a suspension of the party's bank account.
In Turkey, the closure of political parties is decided by the Constitutional Court, based on an indictment filed by the Supreme Court Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.
Instead of permanent dissolution, the 15-member Constitutional Court may instead decide to partially or completely cut off state aid to the party, depending on the severity of the acts in question.
One of the most concrete reasons for this process regarding the HDP dates to 2014. In September 2014, clashes intensified between YPG – the Syrian branch of the PKK terrorist group – and Daesh in the town of Ain al-Arab, also known as Kobani, near the Turkish border. Developments in Ain al-Arab, which was then the territory of the Syrian regime, triggered violence in Turkey sponsored by the PKK and the HDP. Ain al-Arab, which has been under the control of the YPG since 2012, was of great importance in implementing the so-called “democratic autonomy” project often emphasized by both the HDP and the PKK. It is also the core of the HDP's party platform that aimed to make municipal provincial councils function as parliaments and have political weight. In fact, Ain al-Arab was a test site for achieving this goal of the PKK and the HDP.
In August 2014, the PKK and the HDP tried to turn Ain al-Arab into a bargaining chip for this goal. Both the PKK and the HDP used disinformation tools and elements of psychological warfare. They made a special effort to mobilize the masses with fake news.