The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has launched through social networks a fundraising campaign to raise funding for the upcoming elections after Turkey’s Supreme Court froze its funds.
The pro-Kurdish party has published a message on its account on the social network Twitter in which it asks its followers to participate in the campaign ‘Hazinemiz Halkizim’ (Our treasure is our people) to «add new achievements» to the «political history» of the formation, for which it has provided a bank account.
The Turkish Prosecutor’s Office filed in March 2021 a lawsuit against the HDP demanding the closure of the party for its alleged ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), considered a terrorist organization by Ankara.
Following this, it demanded in December to suspend the party’s accounts so that it cannot receive public funds ahead of the May elections. The Constitutional Court decided on January 5 to block these funds, after which the Supreme Court rejected on Thursday a lawsuit by the HDP to revoke the measure.
HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan denounced hours later that the decision is «political.» «We consider it important to launch a campaign to help our party stand on its own two feet,» he said, Kurdish TV station Rudaw has reported.
The HDP, the second most-represented opposition party in parliament and the country’s third largest formation, has denied allegations of ties to the PKK. Thousands of party members and representatives have been arrested in Turkey in recent years, leading the party to denounce the criminalization of the party’s activities by the authorities.
Some polls have indicated that the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ultra-nationalist allies are virtually tied with the six-party opposition bloc, making the Kurdish vote decisive in the upcoming elections, which could take place on May 14.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
