ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The United States and Europe have criticized a move by Turkey towards banning the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), a week before EU leaders are due to discuss strained relations with Ankara at a summit. The move marks the revival of a long history of Turkey banning political parties, including pro-Kurdish ones. The prosecutor’s announcement of the case came on the same day that Turkey’s parliament stripped a prominent HDP deputy of his parliamentary status. TIES TO PKK MILITANTSThe HDP had recently come under intensified pressure, with nationalist allies of President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party calling for it to be banned over alleged ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group. Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), also hailed the move: “The HDP is a criminal organization disguised in a political cloak.

Source: Egypt Independent March 18, 2021 09:56 UTC