Demirtaş: The aim is to make the AKP win the election

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The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office of the Court of Cassation applied to the Constitutional Court on March 17 and filed a closure case against the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). 687 HDP politicians, including imprisoned former HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş, face a political ban for five years as per the same indictment sent to the top court.

Behind bars in Edirne Prison since November 2016, Selahattin Demirtaş has answered our questions about the closure case against the HDP.

'A way out will be found in any case'

What was your first reaction and comment when you heard about the closure case filed by Court of Cassation Chief Public Prosecutor Bekir Şahin against the HDP?

The closure case filed against our party has political purposes, just like the lawsuits filed against us one by one. It aims to make the [ruling Justice and Development Party] AKP win the election. However, we will foil all these unjust attacks both before the law and at the ballot box.

The prosecutor has requested that a "political ban" be imposed on 687 HDP politicians, the party's assets be seized and the treasury grants be cut. What would you like to say about this?

We do not have to be members or candidates of anywhere to wage a political struggle. We do not wage the struggle with money or for money. None of these attempts can keep us from our struggle.

What do you think the HDP's new course of action will be? How will it be shaped?

The HDP executives will naturally decide it. I am sure that necessary work will be done to guarantee the people's will and its right of representation. I believe that a way out will be found in any case.

What happened?

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, with his prison sentence of 2 years, 6 months upheld by the Court of Cassation, has been stripped of his MP status after the final ruling of the court was read out at the Plenary Session of the Parliament on March 17.

Shortly afterwards, the Chief Public Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation filed a closure case against the HDP by appealing to the Constitutional Court. In the indictment prepared by Chief Public Prosecutor Şahin, there is also a request for a political ban on 697 HDP politicians.

In the event that the Constitutional Court concludes that the related people, with their statements and actions, have caused the total closure of the party, they shall not be the founder, member, executive or inspector of another political party for five years starting from the day when the top court's detailed ruling of party closure is published in the Official Gazette.

The European Union (EU) expressed concern over the lawsuit for the closure of the HDP and expulsion of one of the party's MPs from the parliament.

"Closing the second-largest opposition party would violate the rights of millions of voters in Turkey," EU Commission Vice-President Josep Borrell and Neighbourhood and Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi said in a joint statement on March 18. "It adds to the EU's concerns regarding the backsliding in fundamental rights in Turkey and undermines the credibility of the Turkish authorities' stated commitment to reforms," they said, adding:

"As an EU candidate country and a member of the Council of Europe, Turkey urgently needs to respect its core democratic obligations, including respect for democracy, human rights and the rule of law." (EMK/SD)