Turkey rejects international condemnation over HDP closure case

Foreign ministry slams ‘intervention’ in response to EU and US criticism over the move to close down pro-Kurdish HDP.

Turkey says international criticism of a prosecutor’s case to shut down a pro-Kurdish opposition party amounted to interfering with the Turkish judiciary and called for respect for an ongoing judicial process. The case to ban the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) over alleged ties to Kurdish fighters is the culmination of a years-long crackdown against Parliament’s third-largest party. The Turkish move also marks the revival of a long history of Turkey banning political parties, including pro-Kurdish ones.