Friday, 11 December 2009The Turkish Constitutional Court, the country’s top legal authority, has decided to shut down the Democratic Society Party, or DTP, on charges it has ties with the terrorist organization PKK, the court’s president said on Friday.
Following 9-hour deliberations on the fourth day of the case, Constitutional Court President Hasim Kilic said DTP was closed down as it became a focal point of acts against inseparable unity of the state.
Kilic said 37 DTP members, including DTP Chairman Ahmet Turk and MP Aysel Tugluk were banned from politics for five years.
Legislators Turk and Tugluk will also be expelled from the Parliament after the court ruling is published in the Official Gazette.
Chief Public Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya filed a lawsuit at the Constitutional Court on November 16, 2007, asking for the closure of DTP since it allegedly became a center of acts against Turkey’s inseparable unity.
Founded in 2005, the DTP currently has 21 seats in parliament. The party won 2009 local elections in nine provinces (Diyarbakir, Batman, Hakkari, Igdir, Siirt, Sirnak, Tunceli, Bingol and Van).
The leader of the outlawed Democratic Society Party (DTP) said that Turkey could not resolve problems by banning political parties, adding that problems could be resolved through dialogue and logic.
After Turkey’s highest legal body, the Constitutional Court, announced that it ruled to close down the DTP, Ahmet Turk told reporters, "obstruction of democratic politics will deepen hopelessness. This is a fact. Despite all these, we believe that Turkey will acquire peace one day. Turkey cannot resolve problems by banning political parties. Problems can be resolved through joint understanding, dialogue and logic."
Turk said that his political party would make a statement on Saturday.
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Friday, 11 December 2009
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