Devlet Bahceli, Turkey’s ultranationalist ally to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), in a speech on Tuesday tore into the country’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democratic Party (DEM Party), demanding the party be shut down and calling for the revocation of its MPs’ parliamentary status.
Meanwhile, DEM Party Co-Chair Tülay Hatimoğulları, in a parliamentary address, said that peace in Turkey could only be restored with the release of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan and a democratic resolution of the Kurdish issue.
She reiterated that the mission of the DEM Party was to be a democratic voice to the people, in partnership with “all social entities in Turkey, the Kurdish people’s movement, the Alevi movement, the women’s movement, and the defenders of nature and human rights.”
Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) maintained that, “Peace in Turkey remains elusive unless DEM is laid to rest by legal means.” Proposals put forward by Bahceli included slashing funding for the DEM party and its MPs’ salaries and removal of immunity for DEM Party MPs.
Kurdish parties in Turkey have faced continual threats to democratic engagement. A closure case was brought against the DEM Party predecessor, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in 2021, leading to the party running under the Green Left list for general elections last year. Subsequently, the HDP effectively rebranded itself as the DEM Party.