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Turkish court says pro-Kurdish party may contest elections

   ANKARA, March 8 (AFP) - The Turkish constitutional court on 
Monday ruled that the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HADEP)
can participate in upcoming local and general elections in April.
   The court rejected an appeal by a prosecutor last month to keep 
the party out of elections due to a judicial process launched in
January to ban HADEP on account of its alleged ties with the
separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
   In his appeal to bar the party from running in polls, Prosecutor 
Vural Savas argued that a ban on the party only after the elections
would cause "inconveniences" especially if HADEP had gained
parliamentary seats or won mayoraltys.
   It was not immediately clear on what grounds the constitutional 
court rejected the prosecutor's move to keep HADEP out of
elections.
   But many observers said that if the party were excluded from the 
polls, its potential votes could have benefited of the Islamist
Virtue Party (FP).
   Earlier in the year, Savas demanded a permanent ban on the party 
on the grounds that it was under the complete control of the PKK,
which has been fighting for self-rule in Turkey's southeast since
1984.
   HADEP, established in May 1994 as the descendant of the 
now-defunct pro-Kurdish Democracy Party (DEP), often comes under
fire from Turkish authorities for its alleged ties with the
separatist Kurdish rebels, but it has rejected the charges.
   The party has recently come under increasing strain, with 
alleged confessions by jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, published
in Turkey's mass-circulation papers, incriminating HADEP as a
mouthpiece of the rebel group.
   Several party leaders are currently on trial in Turkish courts 
on "separatism" charges and party chairman Murat Bozlak has been in
prison since November on charges of being a "special representative
of the PKK".
   With the capture of Ocalan last week, Turkish police have 
cracked down heavily on HADEP, detaining dozens of members.
   The party enjoys significant support in the mainly 
Kurdish-populated southeast, but failed to win parliamentary seats
in the 1995 elections as it failed to reach the required 10 per cent
threshold barrier.

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