In the face of accusations for being directed by terrorist leader Abdullah Öcalan, the Democratic Society Party, or DTP, argued yesterday that Öcalan preaches a peaceful solution. Furthermore, party closure is inconsistent with democratic ideals, the DTP claims and denied any connection with violent political activities.

  “Our adoption of Öcalan's approach, which does not contradict universal legal norms and democracy, which opposes separation, should be considered normal,” stated DTP officials presenting their party's verbal advocacy yesterday.

  Chief public prosecutor, Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya, filed the closure case against the DTP in November last year, arguing that the DTP was a center of separatist activities and had organized connections with the PKK.

  DTP leader Ahmet Türk had reduced parts of the defense allocated to the charges of relations between the PKK and Öcalan. Türk and the party's legal affairs chief, Bengi Yıldız, presented the verbal advocacy. “DTP's closure would lead to disappointment from the people,” Türk said.

  'Democracy on our side'

  The DTP also used arguments of international law in its advocacy, claiming the European Court of Human Rights' decisions run counter to an eventual closure ruling. The Venice commission, set up by the Council of Europe to forge democracy standards, urged for a political party to only be disbanded if it uses violence, said the DTP, and argued the DTP is working for the democratization of Turkey. “The DTP and the PKK have no organizational connection,” stated the DTP.

  The PKK is a result, not a problem, according to the DTP advocacy, which depicted the terror organization as the product of Turkey's homogeneous nation-state structure and the denial of Kurds. The PKK, which led a bloody campaign against Turkish and Kurdish civilians in the 1980s and 1990s, is recognized as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States. The DTP refuses to use the term terrorist when referring to the PKK.