HAK VE OZGURLUKLER PARTISI

(Hak-Par)

In English, the Right(s) and Freedoms Party is a minor pro-Kurdish party founded byAbdulmelik Firaton 11 February 2002 as a possible alternative to theDemokratik Halkin Partisi(DEHAP) if it were banned. Hak-Par itself soon faced the possibility of being banned by the Constitutional Court because some of its members had spoken Kurdish at the party's general congresses and the party program contained elements contrary to the "indivisible unity of the State and the nation." This attempt at closure, however, was eventually rejected. In November 2008, Bayram Bozyel took over the party leadership from Sertac Bucak, who had succeeded Abdulmelik Firat in 2006. Until it was banned on 11 December 2009, theDemokratik Toplum Partisi(DTP) had been a much larger and more successful pro-Kurdish party.