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Turkish ban on Kurdish party could hit democracy: EU

14 December 2009, 15:12 CET
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(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission on Monday voiced fears that Turkey's decision to outlaw the country's main Kurdish party could hit its democratic pluralism.

"The decision of the constitutional court might deprive a significant segment of Turkish voters from political representation, a necessary condition for the successful outcome of the democratic opening," a spokesman for the European Union's executive branch said.

Turkish nationalists and Kurdish activists have clashed daily in Istanbul since Turkey's constitutional court decided Friday to ban the Democratic Society Party (DTP) for links with Kurdish rebels who have led a 25-year insurgency in the country's southeast.

The party officially ceased to exist on Monday.

While regretting the court-ordered ban on the DTP, the European Commission hinted that close links with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels were partly to blame.

"The commission regrets that the DTP has continuously refused to clearly distance itself from the PKK and to condemn terrorism," its spokesman said.

The Swedish EU presidency had on Friday expressed concern at the decision of the Turkish court "to ban a number of its democratically elected representatives from political activity."

While strongly denouncing violence and terrorism, the Swedish EU presidency said the dissolution of political parties must be "an exceptional measure that should be used with utmost restraint."

It also reminded Turkey of its obligations if it is to fulfil its quest to join the European Union, a process which has already been slowed down by Ankara's refusal to deal normally with Cyprus.

"The EU has called on Turkey, as a negotiating country, to make the necessary constitutional amendments to bring its legislation on political parties in line" with European rights law, Friday's statement added.

The mounting violence in Istanbul has overshadowed Turkish government plans, announced in August, to expand Kurdish freedoms in a bid to erode popular support for the rebels and end the conflict in the southeast, which has claimed around 45,000 lives.


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