Turkey’s high court ban of pro-Kurdish party undermines democratic legitimacy Commentary
Turkey’s high court ban of pro-Kurdish party undermines democratic legitimacy
Edited by:

Kerim Yildiz [Chief Executive, Kurdish Human Rights Project]: "Turkey's Constitutional Court ruling to close the Demokratik Toplum Partisi (Democratic Society Party, DTP) – the first pro-Kurdish party in the Turkish parliament in 14 years — comes at a crucial time in Turkey's history. The AKP government's initiative aimed at resolving the Kurdish issue in Turkey represents a positive step in finding a peaceful democratic solution to the conflict that has plagued the country for decades. The Chief Prosecutor's allegations and the Constitutional Court's decision to ban the DTP represents a step backward and will do nothing to further the cause of peace.

This is not the first time such tactics have been used in an effort to silence and further marginalize the Kurdish people. Politicians and parties representing the Kurds and Kurdish aspirations have faced systematic persecution in Turkey. Every party that has sought to articulate Kurdish concerns in a peaceful, democratic forum has contended with efforts by the establishment to restrict their activities, threaten their members and ultimately disband the party. This has included, among others, The People's Labour Party (HEP), the Freedom and Democracy Party (ÖZDEP), Democratic Party (DEP), and pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HADEP). The well-known decision to shut down the Democratic Party (DEP) in 1994, led to a number of DEP MPs being subsequently arrested and imprisoned after they were stripped of their parliamentary immunity. Five of them – Selim Sadak, Ahmet Türk, Leyla Zana, Mehmet Hatip Dicle and Orhan DoÄŸan – were sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment because of their public expression of their Kurdish identity.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) later ruled that the 1994 shut down denied DEP MPs the right to a fair trial, a violation of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and that the deprivation of their parliamentary mandate was in breach of the right to free elections under Article 3 of Protocol 1 to the ECHR. The ECtHR also found violations of the ECHR in a number of other party closure cases in Turkey. This systematic harassment and persecution of elected representatives by unelected state agents underscores the need for a thorough overhaul of mechanisms in Turkey governing the banning of parties and prosecutions of MPs.

For the stability of the region and in the interest of both the Kurdish and Turkish people, now is the time for Turkey's government to reach out to its Kurdish citizens and work towards the substantive democratic reforms necessary to bring it in line with European human rights standards and progress towards full membership in the European Union. This latest party closure is not only a major set-back to the Kurdish issue, but it is also another devastating blow to democracy and political stability in Turkey and lays bare the severe failings of the Turkish legal and political system.

Barring Kurdish interests from political participation will do nothing for Turkish unity and will only succeed in further denying basic human rights to over 20% of the states population. Political dialogue and reform, not the prosecution of dissent, is the only way to end the ongoing armed conflict that has cost the Turkish and Kurdish people so dearly."

Opinions expressed in JURIST Commentary are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JURIST's editors, staff, donors or the University of Pittsburgh.