AKP should also be shut down if top court rules for HDP's closure: Demirtaş

The AKP should also be shut down if the court rules for the HDP's closure, Selahattin Demirtaş has said, citing Erdoğan's role in the peace process between the PKK and the state. "Actually, it wasn't us who carried out meetings with the PKK and Öcalan, but it was Erdoğan himself," he said.

Wednesday March 31 2021 11:42 am

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Former Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş has said that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) must be shut down if the top court rules for the HDP's closure.

Answering the daily Yeni Yaşam's questions from Edirne Prison, Demirtaş said that the court case for the HDP's closure was expected since the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the AKP's far-right alliance partner, has been pushing for it.

"This is a politically motivated case that was launched with regards to the elections. The HDP must be acquitted if the Constitutional Court takes the law as its basis," Demirtaş said.

"If they're going to shut down the HDP for it being a partner in the peace process, then the AKP should also be shut down," the former co-chair noted, referring to the talks between the state and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that ended in 2015.

According to Demirtaş, the HDP delegations that visited PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan in the İmralı Prison and Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq, which is where the PKK is based, did so upon the wishes and support of Erdoğan's government.

"Actually, it wasn't us who carried out meetings with the PKK and Öcalan, but it was Erdoğan himself. We were facilitators between the parties and presented our own solutions to them. However, we weren't the ones addressed by Qandil or İmralı. The official answerers were Erdoğan and the government itself," Demirtaş said.