Turkey's top court today closed the only pro-Kurdish party in parliament for having links to PKK Kurdish rebels in a ruling that could hamper the nation's faltering EU membership bid.
The European Union had warned that banning the party would violate Kurdish rights and the judicial move against the party could also set back the Turkish government's drive to end a conflict with militant Kurdish separatists.
The constitutional court voted unanimously to ban the Democratic Society Party (DTP) after it found the party 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 organisation and because it became a focal point of the activities against the country's integrity," constitutional court chairman Hasim Kilic said as he announced the verdict.
The ruling imposes a five-year ban from politics on 37 members of the DTP, the only Kurdish party in parliament.
"Turkey cannot solve its problems by closing down parties," DTP Chairman Ahmet Turk told reporters.
"As long as our goal is a solution to the Kurdish problem it doesn't matter who is banned or not from politics, because our determination to find a solution continues," he said.
Reuters