Hakan Tahmaz, the spokesperson for the initiative, said they will submit the signatures collected to the parliament speaker on the day Parliament opens for the new legislative session, Oct. 7.

"We will put up booths in the streets to collect more signatures after the holiday [Ramadan holiday from Sept. 30-Oct. 6]. We are planning to put together a delegation which reflects the diversity of the signatories. We want to hold a mass demonstration on the day the Constitutional Court announces its final verdict on the DTP," Tahmaz said.

Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya had applied to the Constitutional Court to request the closure of the DTP in November 2007. He claimed that the DTP members’ actions and statements run counter to the independence of the state and the indivisible integrity of its territory and nation and that the party has become the focal point of these acts. The DTP asked the Constitutional Court for additional time to prepare its defense and this time was granted. After submitting its written defense, the DTP presented its verbal defense on Sept. 16.

According to procedure, following the verbal defense, the rapporteur of the Constitutional Court will collect documents and information related to the case and will prepare his report. In the meantime, the chief prosecutor and the DTP may submit additional evidence or defense items to the court. After the rapporteur’s report is distributed to the 11 members of the court, Constitutional Court President Haşim Kılıç will determine a day when the justices will convene to hear the case. Under the Constitution, for a political party to be closed down, at least seven of 11 members of the Constitutional Court must vote for closure.

Although it is not clear when the Constitutional Court will give its final decision on the DTP case, the party officials think the verdict will be announced right after local elections in March.

Ahmet Türk, the chairman of the DTP, while presenting the verbal defense of his party told members of the court that the existence of the DTP is a great opportunity for Turkish democracy and that it has an important mission in solving the problems of Turkey, especially the Kurdish question. He also argued that the efforts of the DTP, especially in Parliament, for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish problem were ignored and that they were not given a suitable platform in which to offer their solutions. Regarding Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Türk claimed that it is quite normal for his party to discuss Öcalan’s ideas since he has suggested solutions to the Kurdish problem on the basis of maintaining a unitary state.

The text of the initiative, which urges everyone to give their signature for keeping the DTP open, suggests that for the sake of democracy and justice the DTP should not be closed.

“In order to extend the borders of democracy and not restrict it, in order to strengthen and widen the sense of justice and not destroy the hopes for a peaceful and democratic solution to the Kurdish problem, the DTP should not be closed,” the initiative states.

Tahmaz said apart from individuals and intellectuals, civil society organizations and members of other political parties had also signed the initiative, including the Green Party (YP), Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP), the Peace Initiative, the Chamber of Dentists, the Turkish Doctors Union (TTB), 70 million Steps Against Coups, the Global Action Group, the ‘78ers Association and the Social Democracy Foundation.

One of the signatories, Ferhat Kentel, a professor at İstanbul Bilgi University, stated that in principle he is against party closures if the party is not calling for violence or racism.

“I have practical reasons, too. Despite the allegations that it is somehow linked with the PKK, the DTP is a party that should be included in the democratic system, and it should raise its voice in Parliament. They should be free to express their opinions. This is the only way that they can play their political role. Otherwise democracy will not improve in Turkey,” he said.

Another intellectual who signed the petition, historian Ayşe Hür, underlined that she supports the initiative because it is important to strengthen the legal methods of conducting politics. “There are other groups that always supported illegal methods. We should support the DTP and protect them from such groups. Also, in general, politics in Turkey nowadays is not achieving much. There is [the ruling Justice and Development Party] AK Party on one side and the [Republican People’s Party] CHP on the other. The spectrum between them is not represented. Gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and environmental issues are not reflected either. The DTP, at least, represents ethnicity,” she said.

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