Ankara: Turkey's top court closed the only pro-Kurdish party in Parliament on Friday for having links to PKK Kurdish rebels in a ruling that deals a fresh blow to the country's faltering bid to join the European Union.
The EU promptly issued a statement of concern, having warned that banning the Democratic Society Party (DTP) would violate Kurdish rights and could set back the government's drive to end decades of conflict with militant Kurdish separatists.
The US State Department said the ruling was an internal matter but Turkey's democracy should advance political freedom for all its citizens and measures that restrict those rights "should be exercised with extreme caution”.
Turkey's Constitutional Court voted unanimously to ban the DTP after finding it guilty of cooperating with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) separatist guerrilla group.
"The DTP's closure was decided due to its connections with the terror organization and because it became a focal point of the activities against the country's integrity," Constitutional Court Chairman Hasim Kilic said.
The ruling will raise political tensions and could hit sentiment in Turkish financial markets when they reopen.
"Implications ... on Turkish assets will be negative for the short term due to a possible increase in the political risk premium," said Mehmet Ilgen from ATA Invest.
The decision was announced after markets had closed, but the lira currency slipped and bond yields rose in after-hours trade.
History of bans
Turkey has a long history of banning or overthrowing political parties deemed a threat to national security, including Islamists and Kurdish groups.
Analysts say the ban could strengthen the PKK's hand by undermining confidence in the democratic process and the government's Kurdish reform, backed by the United States as a way to help bring stability to neighbouring Iraq.
Wolfango Piccoli, analyst at Eurasia, said the ruling would stoke ethnic tensions and hurt support for the AK Party among Kurds and nationalists ahead of a general election set for 2011.
Residents of Diyarbakir, the main city in the mainly Kurdish southeast, which witnessed scenes of violence ahead of the verdict, voiced their disenchantment.
"We think that to ban our political party, which reached its position with our votes, is an attack on democracy," said Orhan Altun, a Kurd in his 20s watching the announcement of the verdict on television in a cafe in Diyarbakir.
Many non-Kurds were unsympathetic.
"I think this an appropriate decision. What can I say?" said Ali Kaya, a Turk in his late 40s waiting for a bus in rainy Istanbul. "They did their best to split our country."
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, December 12, 2009, 12:59