MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th March, 2021) A possible ban of Turkey's opposition pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) will further undermine democracy in the country, a spokesperson for the US Department of State said.
On Wednesday, Turkish Presidency Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said that a prosecutor had filed a case with the Constitutional Court demanding the closure of HDP. The official accused the party of having ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is recognized as a terrorist group in Turkey.
"We are also monitoring the initiation of efforts to dissolve the, a decision that would unduly subvert the will of Turkish voters, further undermine democracy�in Turkey, and deny millions of Turkish citizens their chosen representation," Ned price said in a statement on late Wednesday.
He also described the parliament's decision to strip Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu (HDP) of his parliamentarian seat as "troubling."
"We�call on the Government of Turkey to respect�freedom of�expression in line with�protections in the Turkish constitution and�with�Turkey's international obligations," Price added.
The Turkish government has been fighting the PKK, which seeks to establish a Kurdish autonomy in Turkey, since the early 1980s. Along with combating the group in Turkey, Ankara also often conducts cross-border operations in Iraq and Syria.
The PKK and Ankara signed a ceasefire agreement in 2013, but it collapsed just two years later over several terror attacks allegedly committed by PKK militants.
