HDP should be shut and never be allowed to reopen: Bahçeli
MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli has reiterated his call for the closure of the HDP and said that the party must be shut down in a way that would not allow it to be reopened. "The fact that the top appeals court sent the indictment for the HDP's closure to the Constitutional Court is the voice of rights, law and justice," Bahçeli said.
Duvar English
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has said that the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) must be shut down in a way that would never allow it to be reopened.
The far-right party's leader also praised Turkish prosecutor Bekir Şahin's move to file a case with the Constitutional Court for the HDP's closure.
"The fact that the top appeals court sent the indictment for the HDP's closure to the Constitutional Court is the voice of rights, law and justice," Bahçeli said during his party's 13th ordinary congress on March 18.
"The HDP is a criminal organization under the guise of a political group. It's our responsibility to future generations to shut the HDP down in a way that it won't be allowed to be opened under a new name," he said.
Prosecutor Bekir Şahin filed a case with the top court, claiming that HDP members "aim to destroy and eliminate the indivisible integrity of the state with its nation" via acting as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and "the terrorist groups linked to it" in parliament. The prosecutor also claimed that the deputies "acted in a way that contradicted the rules of democratic and universal law" and sought a political ban on a total of 687 HDP members.
The prosecutor's move came after weeks of an anti-HDP campaign by Bahçeli and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). According to the People's Alliance, which consists of the MHP and the AKP, the HDP is the "political wing" of the PKK.
Bahçeli's emphasis on not allowing the HDP to be reopened under a new name stems from similar cases in the country in the past. Numerous pro-Kurdish parties under new names had been opened and shut down since 1990.
During his speech at the party congress, Bahçeli said that the prosecutor's move "relieved Turkish people."
"The HDP is a minefield that surrounded Turkish democracy," Bahçeli said, before moving on to insult the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Good (İYİ) Party.
"The HDP equals the PKK, murder, separatism and a death trap set on those innocent and children. The CHP must choose whether it stands with the so-called Kurdistan project. Will the İYİ Party continue to walk hand in hand with the PKK?" he said, although the HDP doesn't have any such project or aim and the İYİ Party doesn't have any relations with the HDP or the PKK.
According to the far-right leader, those criticizing Turkey over lack of democracy, authoritarianism and human rights violations are "seeking freedom for terrorism."
'No return to parliamentary system'
Turning to the rumors on early elections, the MHP leader said that the elections will be held in 2023 as scheduled and that their candidate is President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
"Our side is that of the People's Alliance," he said.
Slamming the calls for a return to a parliamentary system, Bahçeli claimed that the person who first voiced the term "enhanced parliamentary system" was "terrorist" Selahattin Demirtaş, the HDP's former co-chair.
"There will be no return to a parliamentary system," he said.
Bahçeli was elected as the head of the MHP for the ninth time.