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Turkish prosecutor took steps to ban pro-Kurdish political party |
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Written by Agencies
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Saturday, 17 November 2007 |
Turkish prosecutors on Friday started legal action to ban the main Kurd political party in Turkey, which has been accused of colluding with Kurdish terorists. Prosecutors have asked the Constitutional Court to ban the DTP and expel several of its lawmakers from parliament on charges of separatism.
The Kurdish issue has returned to the international spotlight in recent weeks after the Turkish parliament approved cross-border strikes on PKK bases in northern Iraq. Turkey has massed 100,000 troops on the border and scores of PKK rebels have been reported killed in clashes in recent weeks in Turkish territory.
"The party in question has become a base for activities which aim at the independence of the state and its indivisible unity," through its links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), said chief prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya in a statement to the court. The prosecutor's office on Friday sent the 120-page indictment to the country's Constitutional Court. The chief prosecutor asked the Constitutional Court to ban 221 members of the party, including eight lawmakers, from taking part in politics for five years after the closure of the party. His indictment said the Democratic Society Party (DTP) had implemented the orders of jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan, spreading PKK propaganda and giving it logistical support.
Several predecessors of the pro-Kurdish party were banned by Turkey's Constitutional Court on similar grounds and for alleged ties to terorists.
The DTP was founded in 2005 after another pro-Kurd party was ordered to disband because of alleged links to the outlawed PKK. The DTP, which is represented in parliament, has last week called on Ankara to grant autonomy to Turkey's mainly Kurdish south-east.
Pro-Kurdish parties have never, in their own right, got past the 10 percent of the vote needed to secure seats in parliament. About 20 pro-Kurdish candidates who stood as independents in the national election in July grouped together in parliament under the DTP banner. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) won an overwhelming share of seats from the main Kurdish regions of southeast Turkey in the election. The party has been accused by the government, opposition, army and the Turkish media of being the political wing of the PKK, which has been fighting the Turkish army since 1984 and is labelled a terrorist organisation by Turkey the United States and European Union. The DTP's new leader, Nurettin Demirtas, has spent more than 10 years in jail for belonging to the PKK. Another deputy, Sabahat Tuncel, is on trial -- despite his parliamentary immunity -- for alleged support for the PKK while the husband of another deputy, Fatma Kurtulan, is a PKK member. Nationalist deputies have demanded that the government end the immunity from prosecution for DTP lawmakers but even Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has opposed this.
The legal procedure against the DTP is expected to take several months.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government, which is seeking European Union membership, has eased some curbs on Kurdish language and culture, but many Kurds say this is not enough.
Speaking at a conference on a new constitution, Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said he was not happy to receive news of the court case, Anatolian reported.
"A new constitution means a more democratic, more liberal constitution... Of course it is not pleasant that a case to close a political party has been opened when we are assessing Turkey's future with Turkish intellectuals," he told reporters. |
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