The Turkish Supreme Court of Appeals’ Chief Public Prosecutor Bekir Sahin on March 17, 2021 lodged a case for the closure of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) with the Turkish Constitutional Court. Sahin also asked the court to ban more than 450 Kurdish politicians from politics for five years. The indictment charges the pro-Kurdish party and its members with “aiming to disrupt and destroy the … unity of the state with their statements and actions.” The prosecutor claims “[The HDP] has never sided with Turkey in any national issue, and to the contrary has chosen to side with those against Turkey.”
