ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A top Turkish prosecutor refiled a case with the constitutional court demanding the closure of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) for alleged ties to militants, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.
In March, the court sent back a similar indictment on procedural grounds for lack of details. The latest indictment demanded a political ban on some 500 party members and a block on HDP’s bank accounts, Anadolu said.
Turkey has a long history of shutting down political parties seen as a threat and has in the past banned a series of other pro-Kurdish parties.
The prosecutor’s move in March was the culmination of a years-long crackdown on the HDP, parliament’s third-largest party, under which thousands of its members were tried on mainly terrorism charges.
The party denies links to terrorism and called the move a “political coup”.
In a written statement, the prosecutor said the HDP committed crimes against the independence of the state and its unbreakable unity with its country and people, according to Anadolu.
(Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)
