Turkey's pro-Kurdish political party banned by the constitutional court for having links to armed separatist fighters has said its legislators will boycott parliamentary sessions. Ahmet Turk, the chairman of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) and one of two pro-Kurdish legislators who were expelled from parliament, said on Saturday the entire group had withdrawn from the assembly.
"Our group has withdrawn from the parliament effective today," Turk said.
The Kurdish party had a total of 21 seats in the 550-seat assembly before the constitutional court shut it down on Friday.
The court found the party guilty of co-operating with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been fighting for autonomy in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast in a conflict that has lasted 25 years and claimed 40,000 lives.
Violent protests
Angered by the ban, Kurds battled Turkish police with rocks and firebombs on Saturday in the town of Yuksekova, close to the borders with Iraq and Iran, Dogan news agency video showed.
In neighbouring Hakkari city, a mob attempted to lynch two police officers but were prevented by local Kurdish politicians, the state-run Anatolia news agency said.
"What else can the court do when there are party administrators who declare the terrorist organisation to be their reason of existence" Abdullah Gul, Turkish president
The move deepened uncertainty over efforts to end conflict between the state and the ethnic minority.
The legislators of the banned party could have formed another party under a new name or continued their work as independents, but Turk said they opted for a boycott.
The court barred Turk and Aysel Tugluk, another legislator, from joining any political party for five years along with 35 other party members - including Leyla Zana, a prominent Kurd who served a decade in prison on charges of separatism.
Abdullah Gul, Turkey's president, defended the court decision during a visit to Montenegro on Saturday.
"What else can the court do when there are party administrators who declare the terrorist organisation to be their reason of existence," the Anatolia news agency quoted Gul as saying.
The ruling is likely to hamper Turkey's efforts to join the European Union, which had warned Ankara that banning the party would violate Kurdish rights.
Turkey's Kurdish population, whose language was outlawed for years, has long complained of discrimination.
'Terror link'
But Hasim Kilic, the constitutional court chairman, said the party'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".
The ruling comes after weeks of clashes between police and protesters angry at the the prison treatment of Abdullah Ocalan, the founder of the PKK.
Earlier this week a protester was shot dead as 15,000 pro-Kurdish protesters marched in the city of Diyarbakir.
Anita McNaught, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Turkey, said there are fears the ruling will lead to more violence.
"We've seen an escalation of street protests, we're now seeing fatalities ... and this will be seen by many Kurds as provocation, they will not take this well," she said.
The DTP was founded in 2005 as a successor to several Kurdish parties that were forced to wind up for collaborating with the PKK.
The PKK is listed as a "terrorist" group by Turkey and much of the international community.
The party says it has "no organic links" with the separatists, but insists the group should be considered an interlocutor in efforts to resolve the Kurdish conflict.
Cengiz Aktar, a columnist with the Turkish Hurriyet Daily News, said there are "some links" between the DTP and the PKK but criticised Turkey for making party closures "a habit".
"The links apparently are there, according to the constitutional court. But in modern democracy, party closures are very seldom," he told Al Jazeera.
"This one really comes at a very unfortunate moment when the country was making a very important opening towards its Kurdish minority.
"It's a totally new era and suddenly comes this unacceptable decision that may overturn the whole democratisation process and bring the country to the verge of chaos."
Turkey's constitutional court has banned the Democratic Society Party (DTP), the country's largest pro-Kurdish political party. The court found it guilty on Friday of supporting violence and being linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party, a Kurdish rebel group better known as the PKK.

The move has sparked violent protests across the country and caused the DTP to announce a boycott of parliament.

The party's two leaders, Ahmet Türk and Aysel Tuğluk, were banned from politics for five years and expelled from the Turkish parliament. On Saturday, Türk announced that the remainder of DTP's parliament members would also pull out. They had held 21 seats out of a total of 550.


The verdict comes as the government is attempting to bring an end to 25 years of fighting with the Kurdish rebels, and follows weeks of intensified ethnic violence. 

The judges of Turkey's constitutional court took only three days of deliberating over the evidence to unanimously rule that the DTP was guilty of inciting hatred and violence and was linked to the PKK. Haşim Kılıç, the head of the court, explained their decision.

Flag of the PKK

"No party has the right to utilize discourse and activities that contain terror, violence and pressure. A party should separate activities and discourses that contain violence and terror from the peaceful ones", he said.

Speaking shortly after the ruling, Türk condemned the court's decision.


"This deepens the desperation", he says. "This is a reality. But we are hopeful that Turkey will find its peace one day. But by closing a political party you can't solve the problem. Turkey can only solve its problems through reason and dialog."

Kılıç acknowledged the ramifications of his decision:

"Some people will say this verdict will sabotage the peace process, but this case is two years old, and we are judges not politicians." He says no country in Europe would allow such a party to exist.

In justifying the ruling Kılıç also said they had studied similar cases in the European Union – in particular the closure by Spanish courts of the pro-Basque Batasuna party. But the EU later issued a statement that "while strongly denouncing violence and terrorism, the presidency recalls that the dissolution of political parties is an exceptional measure that should be used with utmost restraint."

Such concerns will likely affect Turkey's relations with the EU, which it is currently seeking to join. This is the 27th time a Turkish political party has been shut down since 1968.

Turkish president Abdullah Gül expressed his approval of the decision. Speaking during his visit to Montenegro, he asked: "What else can the court do when there are party administrators who declare the terrorist organization to be their reason of existence?" 

The PKK are listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkish authorities, the EU and the United States. They have been engaged in an armed struggle against the government since 1984. An estimated 40,000 people have been killed in the fighting.

The verdict comes after weeks of ethnic violence, in which Kurdish youths have been clashing with security forces across cities in Turkey's predominately Kurdish southeast. The demonstrations were in response to alleged mistreatment of Abdullah Öcalan, founder of the PKK, whilst in prison. A pro-Kurdish protester was shot dead in Diyarbakır last weekend, sparking further unrest. Turkish nationalists have also been demonstrating, following the killing of seven Turkish soldiers by the PKK in central Turkey on Monday.

Almost immediately following the verdict, violence erupted in the predominantly Kurdish south-east of the country between advocates of the party and Turkish riot police.