ANKARA - HDP Co-Chair Mithat Sancar stated that they applied to the Constitutional Court regarding the closure case and said that the decision should be left until after the elections.

 

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Mithat Sancar held a press conference at its Headquarters on the developments in the closure case against his party. Stating that they applied to the Constitutional Court within the scope of the closure case, Sancar summarized the case process as follows: "If the principles of universal law were taken as basis, this case should never have been filed. The closure case was opened in a process and manner contrary to the principles of universal law. If the principles of universal law were based, when the indictment was submitted to the Constitutional Court, the case had to be dismissed immediately and fundamentally. The first signs of this were given by the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court stated in its first decision that this case was unfounded. This first decision was the decision to return the indictment. The first indictment of the Chief Public Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation to open the case was returned unanimously by the Constitutional Court. The reason was that it was not without foundation and evidence; however, the Chief Public Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals later stated that he had prepared a new indictment and sent it back to the Constitutional Court; however, this indictment was no different from the first indictment. It was also without foundation. Again, the allegations were not based on evidence. In short, if international human rights and democracy standards, to which Turkey is a party, were taken as a basis, this case would not be talked about today. Therefore, this case is not the result of a process that can be explained by law. On the contrary, it is part of an operation based entirely on political motives and goals.”

 

BANK ACCOUNT OF THE PARTY BLOCKED

 

Mentioning that the party's accounts that received Treasury aid were blocked within the scope of the lawsuit, Sancar said: “The closure case against HDP is a typical example of the judiciary being used for political calculations. The lawsuit continued, and the last decision was made to block our bank accounts, where Treasury aid would be made. This decision was taken on January 5, 2023. It is known that this decision was taken by a majority of votes. We have explained on various occasions that the decision was taken in a way that violates all the fundamental principles of domestic law, which is unlawful in all respects. The decision to block the accounts in which the Treasury aid will be deposited means a complete and blatant denial of the Constitution, the laws and the Constitutional Court's reason for existence. We have the right to object to this. The appeal period against this injunction will expire on February 4th. This should be considered as a separate process. I will make a brief statement on this later."

 

PROCESSING MUST BE LEFT AFTER THE ELECTION

 

Reminding the verbal statement of the Supreme Court of Appeals Chief Public Prosecutor Bekir Şahin to the Constitutional Court on January 10, Sancar said: “At this stage, our party will be given time to make an oral defense; however, to date, our party has not been notified about this issue. The oral opinion of the Chief Public Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation will be communicated to us in writing and we will be given a period of time to make an oral defense. There are serious problems created by the fact that all these proceedings have continued to this day and that the case has reached this stage. Considering the possibility of damaging the electoral process in Turkey and all principles related to democracy, we made a request to the Constitutional Court regarding the subject of our application today. In our application to the Constitutional Court, we demanded that all proceedings regarding this case be postponed until after the June 18, 2023 elections. The Constitutional Court should stop the proceedings regarding this case. I will list the reasons, I need to give a couple of more information."

 

THE DECISION SHOULD BE LEFT AFTER THE ELECTION

 

In accordance with Article 90 of the Constitution, international conventions on human rights and the jurisprudence of their subordinate organs have the force of domestic law. It is above the law and binds all authorities, including the Constitutional Court. If the case law of the ECtHR and the decisions of the Venice Commission were taken into account, this case should not have been opened at all. Once the indictment was given, it should have been immediately and fundamentally dismissed. Unfortunately, all this did not happen due to political pressure and campaigns. We reserve the right to object to the decision regarding the blocking of the accounts to which the Treasury aid will be made. In other words, the Constitutional Court should decide to leave all the proceedings related to this case until after the election. The exception to this is the decision to block the accounts to which the Treasury aids will be deposited. We will submit our objection against this decision until February 4th. It is imperative and necessary for the Constitutional Court to abolish this measure.

 

DISCUSSIONS ABOUT PRESIDENT CANDIDATE

 

When he was asked about HDP's presidential candidate, Sancar said: "The efforts to determine the candidate continue. Our party has committees. We are one of the most original parties in Turkey and perhaps the world. We have our own direct boards, VQA, PM, but we are a party of components. And now we have an alliance. We formed an election coordination board. It is a board that includes representatives of all these components and circles, excluding alliances. Studies are ongoing. We are conducting consultations with various democratic circles. We are in an exchange of ideas with our base. I don't think this process will take too long; however, some more time is needed for the maturation of the employees. Today, we will discuss this issue again in our VQA.”

 

WE HAVE THE STRENGTH AND EXPERIENCE TO TAKE ACTION

 

As we have explained many times, we have the power, accumulation and experience to take political measures and moves against political operations; however, it would be insufficient to look at the issue only from this perspective. The principles that have been violated are so heavy that they can lead to the destruction of the last crumbs of democracy in Turkey. This election has a historical character for Turkey. The government wishes to design the election process in its favor with other operations besides the closure case. We witness all together that they make various moves for this.