BDP could face closure case following KCK indictment

6 April 2012 / E. BARIŞ ALTINTAŞ, İSTANBUL
The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) could face a closure case at the Constitutional Court -- only three years after its predecessor, the Democratic Society Party (DTP), was shut down by the same high court -- after a prosecutor conducting an investigation into the terrorist Kurdistan Communities’ Union (KCK) network accused the BDP of having links to the KCK.
The prosecutor sent a copy of the indictment regarding the KCK, which was accepted by an İstanbul court earlier this week, to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Supreme Court of Appeals. After their review, if the Supreme Court of Appeals’ prosecutors establish that the KCK is indeed linked to the BDP, they may file charges against the BDP seeking to close it down on charges of separatism.

Columnist Bülent Korucu said the only way to avoid party closures is to adopt solid legislation. “Turkey has to base party closures on solid criteria. At this point, the only fair criteria in that regard appear to be the Venice Criteria of the European Union. We absolutely have to make this part of our legislation.”

The BDP is, however, in the crosshairs for having boycotted a referendum package in 2010 that initially included a clause that would have made it more difficult to shut down parties. The article was dropped from the package at the last minute because the BDP and the Republican People’s Party (CHP) did not support the change. If the change had been passed, it would be up to Parliament to decide whether prosecutors could start a closure case against a political party.

Journalist Nazlı Ilıcak extended the same criticism. “When I read about this in the newspapers, it brought to mind the BDP’s stance during the referendum,” she wrote in her column in Sabah on Friday.

“This clause was dropped from the referendum package partly because of the BDP,” noted Korucu.

Turkey has shut down some 26 political parties in the past 50 years, compared to only two parties closed by EU member countries. Parties that are shut down are replaced by “new” ones with different names. “If the nation doesn’t close down the party, there is nothing the courts can do. Only the sign on the door will change,” Korucu noted.

He also said shutting down the BDP runs the risk of popularizing the party at a time when the BDP’s position and role in the Kurdish question is being increasingly debated. “This [shutting down the BDP] would work for the BDP and the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK] because neither of them really contributes to a solution to address the problems faced by Kurds. It would also be great for the neo-nationalists because they thrive on chaos. It would undermine Turkey and the government’s reputations in the eyes of Europe and the international community, and the neo-nationalist segment would enjoy that as they have nothing else against the government.”

The BDP remains defiant in the face of the closure risk and the ongoing KCK investigation. “It has now become evident that the real target of the prosecutors is not the KCK but the BDP,” said Gültan Kışanak, co-chair of the BDP. She noted that hundreds, including BDP mayors, deputies and lawyers as well as journalists, have been arrested in the operations against the KCK, which prosecutors say is an umbrella network encompassing the BDP, the PKK and other affiliated groups.

BDP parliamentary group deputy head Hasip Kaplan insinuated that the government is to blame for the current situation. “The judiciary is not being dominated by the executive, it is directly under government orders,” he said in a press statement. Kaplan asserted that all closure cases are politically motivated. “They have already arrested 7,000 of our members and effectively brought our party to the point of closure. We want party closures to become a thing of the past. We are saying this openly: No cruelty, oppression or injustice can stand in the way of ideas in which the people believe. Turkey has become a cemetery for political parties, but this is the last act in the play. This is the last act we and the government will be in. You either have democracy or you don’t. You will either pass a new constitution or you won’t.”

He said the current trial of the two generals who led the 1980 coup is a show. “You are still trying to shut down parties using coup laws,” Kaplan said, addressing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

“A new party, a backup party -- we can’t deal with these anymore. We will put an end to this farce, this tragedy. Turkey doesn’t deserve this. You can’t have democracy in a graveyard of political parties. We will end this. We will fight until the end. We entered Parliament as independent deputies. Can they drop our membership in Parliament if they shut down the party? They can’t. Say we close down the party on our own a month before the Constitution Court announces its ruling. If we don’t give them the opportunity to shut us down, what are they going to do? There is nothing they can do. We have also become masters in this game, Mr. Prime Minister,” he said.
Source http://www.todayszaman.com/news-276639-bdp-could-face-closure-case-following-kck-indictment.html