Turkish court suspends funding for pro-Kurdish party over alleged ties to terrorism

A top Turkish court on Thursday suspended funding for the main pro-Kurdish party over its alleged ties to terrorism.

The court decision deprives the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) – parliament’s second-largest opposition group - of a key source of revenue heading into a general election due by June.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses the party of being the political wing of banned militants who have been waging a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.

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The HDP denies formal links to the fighters and accuses the government of targeting the party because of its strong opposition to Erdogan.

The HDP’s future could play a major role in deciding Erdogan’s success in parliamentary and presidential elections now posing one of the stiffest challenges of his two-decade rule.

Turkey’s constitutional court is hearing a prosecutor’s request to ban the party before the vote.

Chief prosecutor Bekir Sahin is due to argue his case in court on Tuesday.

The court will then have the option of either dissolving the party or banning some of its members if it rules against the HDP.

Turkish media reports say the party was due to receive 539 million liras ($29 million) in treasury funding this year.

An HDP party spokesman told AFP that the party’s only other source of revenue is donations from supporters.

The spokesman could not immediately say what percentage of the party’s funding comes from the state.

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