Turkey bans pro-Kurdish party

A Turkish court has banned the country's only pro-Kurdish political party because of its alleged connections to a Kurdish guerrilla group.

The Democratic Society Party (DTP) was a "focal point of activities against the indivisible unity of the state, the country, and the nation," Constitutional Court president Hasim Kilic told reporters in Ankara on Friday.

Friday's ruling means the party will be dissolved immediately, and its assets absorbed by the national treasury.

DTP chair Ahmet Turk has said that the 21 party members currently holding parliament seats will resign. Thirty-seven of the party's members, including Turk, are also banned from participating in politics for five years.

Calls for "revenge"

About 1,000 people chanting "Blood for Blood! Revenge!" took to the streets in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, where Kurds form a majority of the population. Riot police used tear gas and water canons in an attempt to dispel the crowd that had gathered outside the city's party headquarters.

In Istanbul, about 100 demonstrators protested outside of the DTP office there, with some throwing stones at police.

The atmosphere had been tense in advance of the ruling, with two people killed in clashes. The Kurdistan Worker's Party, known as the PKK, also killed seven Turkish soldiers during an ambush in northern Turkey earlier this month.

Friday's court decision concludes a case started in 2007 by Turkey's chief prosecutor, who said the DTP was taking orders from the PKK, which is considered a terrorist group in Turkey and among much of the international community.

DTP says they have "no organic links" with the PKK, but the party has expressed support for them and their jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan.

The PKK has been waging a bloody insurgency in southeast Turkey for 25 years that has claimed at least 35,000 lives. Earlier this year, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a plan to ease restrictions placed on Kurdish language and cultural expression, in hopes that it would help end the conflict.

A history of banning parties

The ban has drawn criticism from the European Union's Swedish presidency, which issued a statement shortly after the decision.

"While strongly denouncing violence and terrorism, the presidency recalls that the dissolution of political parties is an exceptional measure that should be used with utmost restraint," the presidency said.

The EU had also earlier warned Turkey that banning the DTP could negatively affect its membership bid.

The DTP was formed in 2005 after a previous pro-Kurd Party dissolved. Now it is the 27th party to be shut down in Turkey since 1968.

"Turkey cannot solve its problems by closing down parties," Turk told reporters. "As long as our goal is a solution to the Kurdish problem it doesn't matter who is banned or not from politics, because our determination to find a solution continues."

svs/AFP/Reuters/dpa
Editor: Matt Zuvela