Turkey's pro-Kurdish HDP says banning case should be thrown out

FILE PHOTO: Demonstrators attend a protest in solidarity with pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), during a protest in Istanbul, Turkey June 18, 2021. REUTERS/Dilara Senkaya/File Photo

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - An indictment which aims to ban Turkey's Democratic Peoples' Party (HDP) was prepared for political reasons and should be thrown out, an HDP official said on Saturday, a day after it submitted an initial defence to Turkey's top court.

Turkey's Constitutional Court accepted the indictment against the pro-Kurdish HDP in June. The measure calls for the party to be shut down over alleged ties to militants. But the HDP denies any such ties and describes the case as a "political operation".