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The attorney general of the Supreme Court in Turkey wants the pro-Kurdish opposition party HDP to be banned by the constitutional court.
The state news agency Anadolu reported on Wednesday that a corresponding indictment had been sent to the court in Ankara.
The reason given was, among other things, that HDP members had intended with their statements and actions to undermine the integrity of the state.
Accordingly, the public prosecutor's office accuses the HDP of “terrorist” activities.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also regularly accuses the HDP of being the political arm of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is fighting the Turkish army in the south-east of the country and northern Iraq.
The HDP rejects the allegations.
The Turkish leadership has been exerting pressure on the HDP for a long time, and a ban on the party has recently been discussed repeatedly.
Numerous functionaries of the third largest party in parliament are in prison on charges of terrorism, and dozens of elected HDP mayors, especially in the Kurdish southeast of the country, have been dismissed.
A procedure is also currently underway to withdraw their immunity from around 20 HDP members in the Turkish parliament.
MP loses immunity
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On Wednesday, for example, the HDP member of the Kocaeli province, Ömer Faruk Gergerlioglu, was deprived of his seat in parliament and thus of his immunity.
Gergerlioglu lost his mandate on Wednesday due to a final judgment, the parliament announced on Twitter.
The decision was read out in the presence of Gergerlioglu.
It met with severe criticism.
HDP MPs responded with protest calls and refused to leave parliament.
Photos showed the parliamentarians at Gergerlioglu's side, they showed the victory sign.
Gergerlioglu wrote on Twitter that he would defend himself against the "coup" in parliament.
The decision disregards the will of the people.
The politician is known in Turkey for denouncing human rights violations.
An appeals court upheld a two and a half year prison sentence for terrorist propaganda against Gergerlioglu in February - this paved the way for his immunity to be waived.
The background was a tweet from 2016.
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The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) had criticized the judgment against Gergerlioglu as illegal and politically motivated and argued, among other things, that the tweet was protected by freedom of expression.
It was initially unclear whether the MP would have to go to prison after his immunity was lifted.
Gergerlioglu has lodged a complaint with the constitutional court against the judgment and stressed that the parliament is obliged to wait for this decision.
Erdogan is under pressure
The most prominent figure of the HDP is its former co-boss Selahattin Demirtas.
The charismatic politician, once a presidential candidate for his party, has long been considered a dangerous rival for Erdogan.
Finally Demirtas was accused of "terrorism" by the government in Ankara and in November 2016 he was arrested.
He faces up to 142 years in prison in the ongoing main trial of the terrorism allegations.
Only a few months ago, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the EU Parliament again demanded the immediate release of Demirtas.
Erdogan is currently under pressure due to the corona and economic crisis in Turkey.
Rising inflation and the decline in the Turkish lira are fueling resentment among the population.
Just a few days ago, Erdogan announced a tax break for almost a million small businesses.
The next presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey take place in two years.