The Constitutional Court of Türkiye (AYM) on Thursday suspended state funding for the People's Democratic Party (HDP), a party Ankara says has links to the PKK terrorist group, as part of the ongoing lawsuit for the closure of the party.
The court’s ruling to deprive the party of funds as a “temporary measure” came weeks after the prosecutor of the case, Bekir Şahin, submitted the request to “urgently” block the party’s accounts where it receives funds from the Treasury on grounds of it having “organic ties” to the PKK terrorist organization and using the funds in line with the aims of the group.
Following a response from the HDP, the court is set to reevaluate its decision on whether the suspension will be removed or stay in effect.
Of eight members of the board, seven were reportedly in favor of the suspension.
The HDP has been facing a shutdown of its activities since 2021 when Şahin, also the chief public prosecutor of the Supreme Court, launched a lawsuit accusing party leaders and members of acting in a way that defies the democratic and universal rules of law, colluding with the PKK and affiliated groups, and aiming to destroy and eliminate the indivisible integrity of the state with its country and nation.
He has consistently called for the party to be banned from all state financial support and a political ban on its members, including former leaders.
The PKK is designated as a terrorist organization in Türkiye, along with the United States and the European Union.
Şahin is also set to give his final opinion to the Constitutional Court on Jan. 10, 2023, about the details of the closure case. The court in the meantime will evaluate his request. Then, the HDP will be allowed time to prepare a verbal defense against Şahin’s opinion.
Subsequently, all 15 members of the court will reach a conclusion following a series of assessments on whether the party will be shut down as per the circumstances listed in Article 69 of the Constitution or stripped entirely or partially of government funding. A verdict is only possible if two-thirds of the court members, i.e., 10 of them, reach a majority vote.
Should the Constitutional Court rule to close the HDP, persons facing the verdict will not be permitted to be founders, members, directors and supervisors of another party for five years.
It is unclear whether a final verdict could come before presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for no later than June 2023 in the country.
The HDP is generally blamed for becoming the focal point of actions in violation of the Turkish state’s “unbreakable unity” and having an “active role in providing personnel to the PKK."
Among the past remarks of party leaders proving the close ties to the terrorist group is a statement from HDP co-Chair Pervin Buldan who confessed to previous contact and communication between the party and the terrorist group and praised jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan and his role in the foundation of the party by rejecting the fact that the PKK is a terrorist group.
Figen Yüksekdağ, a former co-chair of the party, during a speech in 2015, said that they lean on the PKK's Syrian branch, the YPG, and other related groups.
One of the party's former co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtaş, in another speech in 2012 also said that they would build a statue of Öcalan, whose posters were found in local HDP offices on many occasions. The images of Öcalan and pro-PKK slogans during party meetings constitute other proof of the close ties, according to Şahin’s previous indictment.
Moreover, the HDP has drawn ire many times for transferring taxpayer money and funds to the PKK. HDP mayors and local officials have been found to misuse funds in support of the PKK and provide jobs to the terrorist group's sympathizers. Its mayors have been accused of undermining municipal services, allowing the PKK to dig ditches in the streets and launch attacks on police and soldiers when the terrorist group adopted an urban warfare strategy in July 2015 and ended a two-year reconciliation period. HDP municipalities and their staff were also found to be actively participating in terrorist attacks launched after July 2015.
Additionally, one of its members, Semra Güzel, was stripped of her deputyship in Parliament in late December after being caught carrying a fake passport traveling with a known human trafficker who spreads PKK propaganda. Earlier in 2022, pictures of Güzel with PKK terrorist Volkan Bora were widely circulated in Turkish media. Bora was killed in 2017 by the Turkish military in Türkiye's southeastern Adıyaman province.
Holding the party responsible for their children's abduction or recruitment by the PKK, Kurdish families have also been staging a sit-in protest in front of the party's southeastern Diyarbakır provincial office for more than four years now.
In November, despite equating the HDP with the PKK, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) paid a visit to the party over a proposed constitutional amendment on the headscarf issue, raising eyebrows from the opposition. AK Party’s People’s Alliance partner Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli ultimately described the visit as a “perfectly natural and right” move since it was a political consultation meeting with a party that still formally holds its parliamentary status.
