MHP leader renews his call for closure of HDP

ANKARA 

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli once again called on the constitutional court to close the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) over the incidents that took place during a protest in Istanbul over the weekend.

“A lawmaker hit our police. No one who attacks the military, the police, innocent people, or insults anyone who comes before him, cannot be a member of this nation. It is also persecution for them to serve in the parliament,” Bahçeli said referring to a demonstration in Istanbul at the weekend.

“Their immunity should be lifted quickly, and they should be brought before the court. The Nationalist Movement Party will support every step to be taken towards this end,” he said speaking to his party’s lawmakers in parliament.

“The aggression and punches of the so-called deputies are the same as the bullets that come out of the guns of terrorists,” Bahçeli stated.

A group of protestors, including HDP members, wanted to march in Istanbul Kadıköy to lift “isolation” on the PKK’s imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan. The tension broke out when the police did not allow the marchers on June 12.

Last year, the Supreme Court Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office filed a lawsuit against HDP for its closure on the grounds that it has links with “terror acts.” The 609-page indictment said the permanent closure of the HDP was a legal obligation for the indivisible integrity of the Turkish state, and peace and security of the nation. It said the party should also be fully deprived of Treasury grants.