On Wednesday, a sentence by the Supreme Court of Appeals against Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Kocaeli MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu resulted in his parliamentary membership being dropped! While this debate was continuing on the rostrum of the Parliament, news soon followed that the Supreme Court of Appeals Prosecutor's Office filed a lawsuit demanding the closure of the HDP and sent the indictment to the Constitutional Court.

In his written statement, Bekir Şahin, the Chief Public Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals, stated the reason for the closure of the HDP was because: “HDP leaders and members behave in a way that the democratic and universal rules of law do not accept, they work together with the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) terrorist organisation and affiliated organisations, by acting as an extension of the organisation. HDP aims to destroy and eliminate the indivisible unity of the state with its country and nation".

In the indictment, the chief prosecutor also asked 984 people, including HDP co-chairs, to be banned from politics.

THE CLOSURE CASE IS NOT 'A CASE DESPITE ERDOĞAN'

Just until a few weeks ago, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) chairman Devlet Bahçeli had been yacking on about for months about how "the HDP must be closed without ever a possibility of reopening,"  despite representatives of the ruling The Justice and Development Party (AKP) claiming that they are against the party’s closure “in principle”. These discussions were taken to be interpreted so far as claims of: “MHP says 'HDP should be closed', but AKP refuses to do so. There is a crack in the People's Alliance” were being made.

As a matter of fact, the dismissal of Gergerlioğlu's parliamentary membership and then the closure case of HDP was interpreted as a “congressional gift to the MHP” by both the HDP and those who closely follow political developments in Turkey.

Considering the recent discussions and the fact that these two important events happened one after the other, and just one day before the MHP congress, the idea of it being a “gift to the MHP” seems justified. However, considering the current political process and the goals of the one-man regime, the agenda behind the actions should be considered to be beyond just a gift to the MHP.

This is because, the attempts to push the HDP out of the legal arena of politics, including through its closure, and the destruction of peace talks by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan - so basically before the June 7, 2015 elections, have been at the forefront at times of political tensions. They have been the most important element in designing the political sphere if Erdoğan and his party and have been one of their most important goals.

Since then, every form of offence has been permitted regardless of whether the initiatives against the HDP are legal, illegal, or incompatible with political morality!

THE CLOSURE ATTEMPT IS THE CONTINUATION OF OPERATIONS TOWARDS THE HDP

As of today [Friday], the official steps taken to close the HDP in the last 5-6 years along with the recent indictment are:

Military and police operations were accelerated in pro-HDP regionsThe arrests of thousands of MPs and members, especially former co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen YüksekdağThe dismissal and of trustees of elected mayors and regional administrators, with their positions replaced by trusteesThe attacks against local organisations of the HDP through police raids and imposed blockades, and hundreds of summons and investigations in order to remove parliamentary immunity of HDP MPs elected in the 2018 elections.

This is why it would not be right to regard Bahçeli's opening of an "HDP shutdown campaign" in recent months as an independent initiative isolated from Erdoğan.

On the contrary, the attempts to push the HDP out of the legal political sphere through it being discredited, dismissed, divided ... and now shut down, is more about an “issue of survival” for the one-man regime!

THE FIGHT AGAINST CLOSURE MUST BE A STRUGGLE OF ALL DEMOCRATIC FORCES

Considering the extent of partisanization in the judiciary in recent years and the pressures of the government starting from the highest authorities to give a directive to the judiciary, it is unquestionable that the case for the closure of the HDP is clearly a political one, not a legal one.

As a matter of fact, Devlet Bahçeli, who spoke at the general congress of his party on Thursday stated: “We owe it to our history that HDP must be shut down forever. The opening of a closure case by the Chief Prosecutor's Office has put our minds at ease”, giving a clear idea about the next course of the case.

The fact that Erdoğan has not made a statement on this issue yet does not mean that he is uncomfortable with the filing of this case. On the contrary, it is true to say that Erdoğan and his administration will use this process as a means to increase the pressure on the HDP, regardless of whether the Party is closed down or not.

Moreover, HDP's closure case is also the most important element of the strategy of removing the opposition party from being an alternative to power in the eyes of the people. And that is why Erdoğan and his party will push HDP out of the legal political sphere by taking the wind of the threat of closure, otherwise making it an “ineffective member”. It would not be wrong to say that he will use every opportunity he has.

It is indisputable that the reflection of this on the field will mean that the government will increase its pressure on the opposition forces in every way.

For this reason, the struggle against the HDP's attempted closures obliges not only the HDP, but also all the forces of democracy, and every segment that opposes the one-man regime to struggle in unity. Because this is the only way to fight a real struggle against the forces that want to shut down HDP and completely neutralise the opposition.