Turkey Seeks to Shut Down Kurd Party Linked to Rebels

The country’s chief prosecutor Friday demanded closure of the main Kurdish political party, saying he has “irrefutable proof” that it is a front for Kurdish rebels fighting for self-rule in Turkey’s southeast.

Kurdish politicians and Western diplomats said the move, three months before a general election, could undermine Turkey’s fragile democracy and drive more Kurds to take up arms.

In a 56-page indictment, prosecutor Vural Savas charged that branch offices of the People’s Democracy Party serve as guerrilla recruiting centers.

The indictment went to the Constitutional Court with transcripts of alleged telephone conversations between party activists and rebel leaders.

Party officials do not hide their sympathy for the 14-year-old guerrilla cause but deny what the prosecutor called “an organic link” with the rebels. Party members held rallies in November to protest Turkey’s bid--which was unsuccessful--to have fugitive Kurdish guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan extradited from Italy.

The police reacted by raiding party headquarters and detaining nearly 4,000 participants in the rallies. Party Chairman Murat Bozlak and 138 other officials remain in jail, accused of nonviolent acts in support of the insurgency, which has claimed nearly 30,000 lives.

Turkish political analysts say the move to outlaw the party is likely to succeed because it is apparently backed by the military, which often intervenes in politics.

The party, which was founded in 1994, could be expected in a free vote to win some municipal elections in the southeast and make a strong bid for a foothold in parliament, the analysts said.

“By denying the Kurds the right to express themselves through legal means, the Turkish state will push them into the arms of illegal groups,” warned Hashim Hashimi, an ethnic Kurd who represents a non-Kurdish party in parliament. “Repression of this sort only feeds the Kurds’ resentment against their own government.”