Top Turkish court accepts indictment seeking closure of opposition HDP

Turkey's Constitutional Court has accepted an indictment seeking the closure of HDP or the Peoples' Democratic Party for alleged ties to the PKK terror organisation.

In mid-March, the country's top prosecutor filed an indictment seeking the dissolution of the HDP, accusing it of colluding with PKK and seeking to destroy the unity of the state.

Bekir Sahin, the chief public prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals, filed the indictment at the Constitutional Court on Monday. The indictment was sent to the Supreme Court, also called the Court of Cassation.

READ MORE: Turkish prosecutor seeks closure of HDP

Ties with PKK

Turkish leaders have long argued that the HDP is little more than a front group for the terrorist PKK.

The party's co-chair Selehattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag have been in prison since November 2017 with accusations of having links to the PKK after parliament voted in mid-2016 to remove immunity for Turkish lawmakers.

In recent years, HDP executives and elected officials have been charged with terrorism-related offences.

On March 17, Turkey's parliament revoked the seat of an HDP lawmaker, Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu, in light of a court ruling read out in parliament.

READ MORE: Why are Turkey's Kurdish families camping outside HDP headquarters?

On February 19, Turkey's Supreme Court of Appeals, also called the Court of Cassation, approved the ruling on Gergerlioglu, who was sentenced to two years and six months for spreading propaganda for the PKK.

In PKK's 35-year terror campaign against the Turkish state, more than 40,000 people, including women and children, have been killed. 

Turkey, the US and the EU recognise the PKK as a terrorist organisation.

READ MORE: Turkey to West: Stop spreading 'lies' of HDP and PKK