Bahçeli calls on top courts to take action to close down HDP

Photo: AA

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli, an ally of the government, has reiterated his call for the closure of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which he accuses of being engaged in "terrorism."

He urged the Court of Cassation, the top appeals court in the country, and the Constitutional Court, to take action against the HDP.

"We expect the Court of Cassation Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to open an investigation into the HDP," he told his party's parliamentary group.

"If the Constitutional Court determines, with evidence and documents, that the HDP is the focus of terrorist acts, which is the only option, it won't be possible to talk about a party called HDP and about its members and executives that caused the closure," he remarked.

"If Turkey is a state of law, the closure of the HDP is an emergency, it is vital, it is a must," he added.

Referring to the summaries of proceedings against 22 HDP lawmakers, he said the MHP deputies would vote for the lift of legislative immunity for those MPs.

Bahçeli also went on to challenge the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and its ally İYİ (Good) Party to declare their stance about the closure of the HDP.

The MHP leader has been insistently calling for the closure of the party over the past few months.

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(DŞ/VK)