Judge blocks access to reports about pro-Erdoğan party

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A judge in İstanbul has blocked access to 47 news articles and social media posts about the Free Cause Party (HÜDA PAR) as per a request from the party's chair, Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu.

In its decision on March 17, İstanbul 8th Penal Judgeship of Peace said the articles in question violated the applicants' personal rights and damaged their political reputation.

The articles linked the HÜDA PAR to Hizbullah, also known as the Kurdish Hezbollah, an Islamist group that perpetrated hundreds of targeted killings in the 1990s. Those who were killed by the group include Kurdish political activists, journalists and politicians.

The outlets that published the articles include the BirGün newspaper, T24, TELE1, Medyascope, Yeniçağ and Euronews.

The party on March 11 announced that they would support President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the May elections. Opposition politicians slammed Erdoğan over its alliance with the HÜDA PAR, accusing the party of "being the legal predecessor of the Hizbullah." The party denies any ties to the group.

CLICK - Kurdish Islamist party poised to join Erdoğan's alliance

(ME/VK)