The People's Democratic Party(HDP), which is the largest pro-Kurdish party in Turkey, is now on the verge of dissolution.  Turkish supreme prosecutors proposed the constitutional court  dissolution of HDP accusing its anti-state activities. The prosecutors claimed that HDP

 

cooperated with Kurdistan Workers Party(PKK), Kurdish rebels which have struggled for freedom of Kurds as they said there was no difference between HDP and PKK. EU expressed concern over the crisis of Turkish democracy. Despite International community was shocked by the prosecutor's announcement , It was not an astonishing event . Closure of HDP has already been well prepared. In May, 2016 immunity from arrest of HDP was stripped with approval of Republican People's Party(CHP), the largest opposition of Turkey . In November, co-leaders  Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ were detained on suspicion of spreading terror propaganda.

 

Link of HDP and PKK is a false accusation obviously as the prosecutors never showed evidence of the link but just useful extenuation for oppression of Kurdish parties. One of the evidence was that a HDP MP opposed a cross border operation against Kurds in neighbouring countries. It is an accusation to close HDP with the political aim of Erdogan. Under the de facto dictatorship of Erdogan, every state institution is impossible to be free from influence of the ruling Justice and Development Party(AKP). Erdogan’s intention was obvious to clean Kurdish political party before the general election of 2023.  Erdogan would also get power to dismantle any opposition that confronts AKP if this closure is success. A senior AKP MP said that any political party is possible to be closed. For the election, AKP needs to keep its ally Nationalist Action Party(MHP), which is based on Turkish supremacism, on its side. MHP has threatened AKP sometimes as it would withdraw from the alliance in case AKP wouldn’t accept its request. This AKP’s ally has claimed to destroy HDP  repeatedly with accusations that HDP has been a political wing of terror organization. It is necessary for Erdogan to balance Islamism, which is potentially sided with ethnic harmonization as Erdogan seeked peace with PKK, and traditional Turkish supremacism.

 

Does HDP just wait for “death sentence” ?  According to a report of Kurdish media outlet Mezopotamya Agency, the executive board of HDP said every choice on the table.  They have a strategy of “Lost in Turkey, Win in Kurdistan” while expecting closure. But the details are unclear. One thing is clear that HDP MPs expect that the party’s closure would be inevitable. But another Kurdish party, Democratic Regions Party(DBP) remains so it can play a role as the main Kurdish Party instead of HDP.  Actually, the closure of Kurdish party is not the first time in Turkish history. Kurdish political parties flourished after half-Kurdish prime minister and president Turgut Özal lifted bans on Kurdish language, culture and also political parties. People's Labour Party(HEP) to People's Democracy Party(HADEP), most of them forced to be dismantled. Hence Kurds haven’t always depended on a single party but built some parties despite they shared common political ideology in preparation for government order of closure on a party. The closure would be a major setback to the coming election however Kurdish political movement based on democratic process will still be alive. 

 

An expected risk due to possible closure of HDP is civil war. The eastern part of Turkey was almost into civil war after Erdogan abandoned peace negotiation with PKK in late 2015.  PKK established the Civil Protection Unit(YPŞ) the urban guerrilla wing then. YPŞ started an uprising across Kurdistan and fortified urban districts. Major cities of Kurdistan were besieged by Turkish army and gendarmerie forces. YPŞ’s actions were epochal in the history of PKK’s struggle as YPŞ aimed to take control of cities . PKK hasn’t been able to impose direct control in the territory of Turkey before that. A border town, Nusaybin fell to Turkish authority in 2016 after YPŞ continued resistance for 6 months, then the uprising came to end.  Though the uprising failed finally, PKK showed its operational capability to seize control of areas from Turkish authority. After the fall of Nusaybin, PKK returned to traditional hit-and-run tactics. Disappointment of Kurds at Turkish multi-party system can turn to momentum of military struggles. It would help PKK to launch a large-scale operation .Resumption of military conflict would bring about waves of refugees. Dissolution of HDP is not just “Turkish Democracy's Death” but is an obvious menace to stability of the Middle East.

 

Roni Namo

He is an ethnic issue writer living in Tokyo. Since he encountered the Kurdish issue at university’s era, he has been covering and analyzing political movements of ethnic minorities, mainly Kurds. He has been better killed by the Kurds in Kurdish (Kurmanji) and is probably the only Japanese in Japan who can use Kurds. In July of this year, he completed the translation of a Japanese novel into Kurdish (unpublished). He is currently focusing on learning Arabic. He has also learned Persian and Turkish. He is training to become a multilingual journalist.