Democratic Society Party

The AKP Government initiated a peace process in 2009 under the leadership of the Interior Minister Beşir Atalay.[13] Despite the fact that the opposition parties of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Republican People's Party (CHP) would raise concerns over the ethnic and national unity of the state, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the AKP carried on with the peace process.[13] In October 2009, thirty-four PKK militants entered Turkey on the request of Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the PKK.[14] They surrendered to the Turkish authorities as a sign for the PKK support of the Government plans for greater Kurdish rights.[14] The group was welcomed by a crowd of PKK supporters and several DTP politicians.[14] The DTP supported an amnesty for the PKK militants and Ahmet Türk also reckoned that the PKK was in favor of peace and not war.[14] The Turkish government was not pleased with the celebrated welcome, the PKK militants received and detained over 400 high ranking DTP politicians.[15] Following a deadly attack on Turkish soldiers by PKK militants on the 7 December 2009, the peace process was over.[13]

The party maintained an office in Brussels, Belgium, to engage into negotiations with politicians in the European Union.[16]

Since its inception, the party and its leaders have faced legal problems with the Turkish government since some critics suspect the party of having ties to the PKK.[18]

It was also criticized by observers for not distancing itself from PKK's armed actions to confirm its refutations of its claimed links with the PKK.[19] A report from June 2007 by the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) stated that "It is an obvious secret that DTP is connected to PKK in a way and PKK is a terrorist group."[20]

A delegation consisting of the DTP MP's Fatma Kurtalan, Osman Özçelik and Aysel Tuğluk traveled to Northern Iraq to mediate the release of 8 arrested Turkish soldiers by the PKK in 2007.[21][22] This visit sparked outrage in Turkey since Fatma Kurtulans husband is an active PKK member.[23][24] She defended her visit that she has not seen him for the past 13 years and they effectively are only married on paper.[25]

In October 2007, in a meeting of the ambassadors of the EU countries and the U.S. to Turkey, it was reported that the diplomats pressured the DTP to denounce the PKK as terrorist,[26][27] following a DTP-sponsored conference, whose final declaration called the imprisoned PKK leader, Abdullah Öcalan, a "leader of the Kurdish people" and called for his release.[28][29] In November 2007, Devlet Bahçeli of the MHP called for the lifting of the parliamentary immunity of what he called the “PKK straw men in parliament“.[30]

Leyla Zana, a leading figure in the party made the statement: "in '99, our leader Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the PKK was in İmralı" which led the crowd to chant "Long Live Apo" (Kurdish: Bijî Serok Apo) the nickname of Öcalan.[31] A judicial investigation was initiated over her remarks.[32] The Co-chair of the party at the time, Emine Ayna, stated that the difference between the PKKs and the DTPs demands are mainly that the PKK wants to achieve their demands for more Kurdish rights through an armed struggle while the DTP wants to find a political solution to the conflict.[33] In

Between 2007 and 2009 the DTP had to face a closure case which in December 2009 brought the parties existence to an end. On the 16 September 2007, the state prosecutor of the Supreme Court Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya submitted an indictment before Constitutional Court demanding the closure of the DTP.[34] The DTP defended itself arguing that most of what they are accused of is protected by freedom of expression.[35] A few days after the deadly attack by the PKK on Turkish soldiers,[13] the Constitutional Court of Turkey voted to ban the DTP on the 11 December 2009, ruling that the party has become the "focal point of activities against the indivisible unity of the state, the country and the nation" as the party has an organic connection to the PKK.[36][37] The Court declared that DTP violated Articles 68 and 69 of the Constitution and the Political Parties Law.[38] "The party became a focal point for terrorism against the indivisible integrity of the state.", stated Haşim Kılıç, president of the Court.[38] Chairman Ahmet Turk and legislator Aysel Tuğluk were expelled from Parliament, and they and 35 other party members were banned from joining any political party for five years.[39]

These party members include: Ahmet Türk, Leyla Zana, Aysel Tuğluk, Hüseyin Kalkan, Nurettin Demirtaş, Orhan Miroğlu.

Later the same day, the Presidency of the European Union released a statement, expressing concern over the Turkish court ruling, and calling upon Turkey to reform its legislation on political parties.[40]

The decision of the Constitutional Court sparked reaction among AK Party parliamentarians. Mir Dengir Mehmet Fırat said: "Turkey has become a graveyard for political parties that have been shut down. Closing political parties does not bring any benefit to Turkey. The Constitutional Court in its decision drew a parallel to the case of Batasuna in Spain, but in my opinion, that example does not really apply."[37]

Massoud Barzani, president of Iraqi Kurdistan stated "The president's office expresses its anger at the Turkish constitutional court's outlawing of the Democratic Society Party (DTP)," as hundreds of protesters gathered in Erbil, Iraq.

Most of the MPs who had been in the DTP decided to join the recently formed Peace and Democracy Party.

Major protests were held in Turkey against the party's ban.

After the 2009 local elections the DTP had mayors in eight provincial capitals:

At the time of 2009 local elections, DTP had mayors in 54 municipalities:[50]

One minor municipality in each of the provinces of Adıyaman, Aydın, Iğdır, Kars, Konya and Van. 43 of them in seven provinces in Southeastern Turkey are densely inhabited by Kurds, including the mainly Kurdish inhabited city of Diyarbakır, where the mayor is Osman Baydemir from the DTP. The party originally also had five municipalities in Muş. But Orhan Özer, the mayor of the minor municipality Rüstemgedik was expelled in May 2007 for practicing polygamy.[51]

In this election on 29 March 2009, Democratic Society Party obtained the following votes in these provinces: Erzincan(0,53%), Erzurum (1,24%), Kars (14,66%), Malatya (0,06%), Tunceli (30%), Elazığ (2,51%), Bingöl (33,79%), Muş (37,23%), Ağrı (32,37%), Adıyaman (5,59%), Diyarbakır (65,27%), Siirt (49,43%), Bitlis (34,43%), Van (53,54%), Şanlıurfa (10,49%), Mardin (36,32%) and Hakkâri or Çolamerik (78,97%).[52]