Turkish top court rejects HDP’s postponement request for closure case

Turkey's Constitutional Court has rejected the HDP's request to postpone its closure case to a date after the election.

Duvar English

Turkey's Constitutional Court (AYM) on Jan. 26 unanimously rejected the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party’s (HDP) request to postpone its closure case to a date after the election.

The move came after the HDP applied to the AYM last week, demanding that all judicial activities be postponed to a date after presidential and parliamentary elections.

The AYM also rejected the HDP’s demand to postpone the application of blocking bank accounts holding Treasury aid to a date after the election. 

The AYM ruled on Jan. 5 to block HDP’s bank accounts holding Treasury aid as it continues hearing a case seeking the party's closure over alleged militant ties.

A prosecutor filed the case against the HDP in March 2021, seeking the ban over alleged ties to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The HDP denies such links.

The Constitutional Court accepted the indictment against the HDP in June 2021 after a years-long crackdown under Erdoğan's rule in which thousands of HDP members have been tried on mainly terrorism-related charges.

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