Erdogan govt aims to ban opposition party ahead of polls
The Hindu
The government has been trying to dissolve the Peoples' Democratic Party since March 2021 over its alleged ties to outlawed Kurdish militants
Turkey's chief prosecutor made his final case in court Tuesday to shut down a Kurdish-backed opposition party before the country heads to the polls later this year.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has been trying to dissolve the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) -- parliament's third-largest— since March 2021 over its alleged ties to outlawed Kurdish militants.
The party says it is being singled out for standing up for Kurdish rights and resisting the government's expanding clampdown on political freedoms and dissent.
The case is reaching its conclusion before the Constitutional Court in time to have major repercussions for Erdogan's re-election chances and parliament's future makeup in elections expected before June.
The party won 12% of the vote in a 2018 general election and holds 56 of parliament's 579 seats.
Its dissolution could limit the election options of millions of Kurdish voters and further complicate Turkey's uneasy ties with the West.
But Mr. Erdogan brands the HDP as the political wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)— listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States and European Union as well as Ankara.
With a new government in place in Delhi, Singapore hopes to schedule the Ministerial Roundtable with India shortly, says Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan. In an exclusive interview, he speaks about the impact of the elections on ties, the “missed opportunity” of RCEP and the new buzz around Andhra Pradesh’s capital Amaravati.