9 political parties: We stand together with HDP in struggle for justice

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Nine political parties have released a joint statement about the closure case filed against the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

"The closure case against the HDP aims to disable the opposition; we will not let it happen," the parties have underlined.

'A Constitutional crime is being committed'

"The one-man regime, constantly talking about the nation's will and unveiling judicial reforms and human rights actions plans, has taken action to close the Peoples' Democratic Party, which represents the will of millions of voters," the parties have said and briefly added:

"There is an attempt to strip hundreds of people, who have no other crime than doing democratic politics, of their most fundamental political rights.

"A grave Constitutional crime is being committed. It is quite apparent that the one-man regime, which has put the country into a spiral of death, unemployment and poverty and lost the support of society, wants to destroy the hope for a democratic transition of power.

"We, as the institutions of this country in favor of democratic rights and freedoms, are aware that this threat of closure against the HDP targets the entire democratic opposition. The target of this attack is not solely the HDP, but the entire democratic accumulation of the society, which it has created and developed by paying a heavy price. What they try to seize is the will of us all and our rights and freedoms that come under attack.

"We declare that we will keep on waging a struggle for justice with the HDP in the face of the government's unlawful attack on the entire opposition for days when we will live in a just and democratic peace."

The undersigned political parties: United Revolutionary Party, the Democratic Regions Party, the Labor Party, Labor Movement Party, Socialist Party of the Oppressed, Socialist Refoundation Party, Social Freedom Party, Workers' Party of Turkey, the Green Left Party.

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)