The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, and the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi, expressed the EU’s deep concern on Thursday 18 March about the legal action taken by the prosecutor of the Court of Cassation requesting the banning of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) for ‘terrorist’ activities.
This pro-Kurdish political party is also the third largest political party within the country. The prosecutor is also seeking to ban 600 HDP members from political office, which would prevent them from forming a new party.
“Closing the second largest opposition party would violate the rights of millions of voters in Turkey”, the High Representative and the Commissioner said in a joint statement. They argued that this adds to the EU’s concerns regarding the backsliding in fundamental rights in Turkey and undermines the credibility of the Turkish authorities’ stated commitment to reforms.
“As an EU candidate country and a member of the Council of Europe, Turkey urgently needs to respect its core democratic obligations, including respect for democracy, human rights and the rule of law”, said Borrell and Várhelyi.
According to the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, Nacho Sánchez Amor (S&D), this request for dissolution “sends a clear message on the real lack of will of Turkish authorities to advance on reforms in the field of human rights and the rule of law”.
“Democratically elected oppositional political parties need to function freely, without intimidation from the government. If Turkish authorities enforce their threats against the HDP, this will have serious consequences in the already strained relations between Turkey and the EU”, he warned, stating that if validated, the ban would further entrench Turkey in “its current authoritarian trend”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)