Fifty political leaders from around world call on Erdoğan to drop closure case against HDP

But Erdogan is doing exactly what he purports to criticise. Apart from confiscating and monopolising aid and assistance to prop up his support at the upcoming elections, his government continues to prosecute politically motivated cases against the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) amid the national crisis.

On 17 March 2021, Turkey's Prosecutor General's Office first filed a lawsuit for a political ban of the HPD before Turkey's Constitutional Court. As a consequence, on 5 January 2023-around half a year before the election date- the Constitutional Court ruled to freeze the HDP's bank accounts and block its share of public funds for the electoral campaign, amounting to 539 million Turkish lira ($28.7m),

This trial to ban the HDP is now entering its final phase. On 11 April, just a few weeks before the elections, the Constitutional Court will hear HDP co-chairs Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar's arguments against the suspension of the party's funding and the attempt to dissolve it. And it could make its final ruling at any point before the elections.

The closure case is the culmination of a state campaign against the HDP that began in 2015 when it first entered parliament as an independent party. Since then, thousands of party members, including its former co-chairs and several elected mayors, have been detained on flimsy pretexts.

The possibility that the country's third largest party in parliament- representing more than 10% of the popular vote in the past two general elections -could be permanently banned so close to the upcoming elections places Turkish democracy in dire jeopardy.

The peoples of Turkey must be able to freely and fairly elect their representatives-including the HDP. The party strives for a democratic and inclusive Turkey, with freedom, equality and justice for all. It stands for ecology, women's emancipation, and the peaceful co-existence of different ethnic and religious groups.

If the Erdoğan government dissolves the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), it will likewise dissolve the foundations of democracy in Turkey,

We defend the HDP's right to freedom of association, expression, peaceful assembly and participation in the upcoming elections. It is time to end the legal attacks against the HDP now, once and for all.

Signed,

• Noam Chomsky, Professor, United States
• Jeremy Corbyn, Member of Parliament, United Kingdom
• Janine Wissler, Member of the Bundestag: Co-chair of Die Linke, Germany
• Yanis Varoufakis, Member of the Hellenic Parliament, Greece
• Niki Ashton, Member of Parliament for Churchill-Keewatinook Aski, Canada
• Jean-Luc Melenchon, Pmr Member of the National Assembly, Prance
• Leila Chaibi, Member of European Parliament, France
• Juliano Medeiros, President of the Party of Socialism and Freedom, Brazil
• Idoia Villanueva, Member of the European Parliament, Head of Podemos International Secretariat, Spain
• Manu Pineda, Member of the European Parliament, Spain
• Nikolaj Villumsen, Member of the European Parliament, Denmark
• Zarah Sultana, Member of Parliament, United Kingdom
• Apsana Begum, Member of Parliament, United Kingdom
• John McDonnell, Member of Parliament, United Kingdom
• Marc Botenga, Member of the European Parliament, Belgium
• Ericka Nanco Vásquez, Mapuche Member of the Chamber of Deputies, Chile
• Nadia Whittome, Member of Parliament, United Kingdom
• Sophia Chikirou, Member of the
• National Assembly, France Andy McDonald, Member of
• Parliament, United Kingdom Gonzalo Winter, Member of the
• Chamber of Deputies, Chile
• Arnaud Le Gall, Member of the National Assembly, France
• Beth Winter, Member of Parliament, United Kingdom
• Amanda Della Ventura, Member of the Mercosur Parliament; Member of the Senate, Uruguay
• Ricardo Canese, Member of the Mercosur Parliament, Paraguay
• Adolfo Mendoza Leigue, Member of the Mercosur Parliament, Bolivia
• Sandra Pereira, Member of the European Parliament, Portugal
• Daniel Caggiani, Member of the Senate, Uruguay
• Liliam Kechichian, Member of the Senate, Uruguay
• Manon Aubry, Member of the
• European Parliament, France
• Richard Leonard, Member of the
• Scottish Parliament, United Kingdom
• Alejandro Sánchez, Member of the Senate, Uruguay
• Sara Condori, Member of the Mercosur Parliament, Bolivia
• András Jámbor, Member of
• Parliament, Hungary Fabian Molina, Member of the Swiss
• Myriam Cecchhetti, Member of the Chamber of Deputies, Luxembourg Walden Bello, Fmr Member of the
• National Council, Switzerland
• House of Representatives, Philippines
• Martin Schirdewan, Member of the European Parliament, Germany
• Tauriq Jenkins, High Commissioner of the Goringhaicona KhoiKhoin Indigenous Traditional Council,
• South Africa Martha Ruiz, Member of the Mercosur Parliament, Bolivia
• Chris MacManus, Member of the European Parliament, Ireland
• Lloyd Russell-Moyle, Member of Parliament, United Kingdom
• Martina Michels, Member of the European Parliament, Germany
• Maite Mola, Head of International Relations, Party of the European Left, Spain
• Sebastián Sabini, Member of the Senate, Uruguay
• Christian Rodriguez, Head of International Relations, La France Insoumise, France
• Daniel Olesker, Member of the
• Senate, Uruguay Stelios Kouloglou, Member of the
• Ammar Ali Jan, Haqooq-e-Khalq Movement, Pakistan
• European Parliament, Greece
• Mametiwe Sebei, President of
• General Industries Workers Union of
• South Africa (GIWUSA), South Africa
• Özlem Demirel, Member of the European Parliament, Germany
• Nilab Ahmadi, City Council Member of Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Miguel Urbán, Member of the European Parliament, Spain
• Amineh Kakabayeh, Fir Member of Parliament, Sweden
• Helmut Scholz, Member of the European Parliament, Germany
• Srećko Horvat, Philosopher, Croatia
• Sandra Lazo, Member of the Senate, Uruguay
• Kerem Schamberger, Media researcher, Germany
• Cornelia Ernst, Member of the European Parliament, Germany
• Nathalie Oberweis, Member of the Chamber of Deputies, Luxembourg
• Ana Merelis, Member of the Mercosur Parliament, Bolivia