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| Europe |
| Turkey outlaws main Kurdish party |
| 2003-03-14 |
| Turkey yesterday banned the country's main Kurdish party for anti-state activities and launched legal proceedings against a sister party, drawing a swift warning by the European Union that the crackdown could hurt Ankara's membership bid. The verdict against the People's Democracy Party (Hadep) "will be studied by the organs of the EU, but it is certain to influence in a negative way Turkey's European initiative," said Greek foreign ministry spokesman Panos Beglitis, whose country chairs the EU presidency. Chief prosecutor Sabih Kanadoglu opened the case against the Democratic People's Party (Dehap), alleging that it had "become a focus for actions that contravene the principles of equality, the legal state and the democratic republic". Turkey's constitutional court earlier outlawed the Hadep, ruling that it had close links to Kurdish rebels. The judges also slapped a five-year political ban on 46 party members and ordered the party's assets to be seized. "Political party closures have become the norm but during the democratisation process this comes as a big surprise," Hadep deputy head Osman Fatih Sanli said. The Hadep verdict came at a time of already strained ties between Turkey and the EU. I don't know enough about Turkey's internal politics to have an informed opinion. If there's a basis for the closure, then it makes sense. If it's simply based on the fact that the parties purport to represent the Kurdish minority, then it's a bad move. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |