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ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The United States and Europe criticised a move by NATO ally Turkey to ban the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), saying it undermined democracy, but a spokesman for President Tayyip Erdogan said the HDP had ties to Kurdish militants.
FILE PHOTO: Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) lawmaker Omer Gergerlioglu and the other lawmakers from his party hold a protest after the Turkish Parliament stripped him of his MP status during a session at the parliament in Ankara, Turkey March 17, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer
A Turkish prosecutor filed a case with the Constitutional Court on Wednesday demanding a ban on the HDP, the culmination of a years-long crackdown against the third largest party in parliament. The HDP called it a “political coup”.