On March 17, the United States called on Turkey to respect freedom of expression on as a Turkish court considered a request to dissolve the opposition pro-Kurdish HDP.

On June 7, the chief public prosecutor of Turkey's Court of Cassation re-filed a lawsuit calling for the closure of the HDP over alleged links to a terrorist organization, Ahval reported.

The closure of the pro-Kurdish HDP “would unduly subvert the will of Turkish voters, further undermine democracy in Turkey, and deny millions of Turkish citizens their chosen representation,’’ the U.S. State Department said.

On June 14, Turkish President Erdogan and his U.S. counterpart Biden met on the side-lines during the NATO summit in Brussels, marking the first face-to-face occasion for the pair since Biden’s inauguration in January.

However, in their first meeting Erdogan and Biden did not address the HDP closure case.

“The Biden administration also should have condemned Ankara’s latest attempt to ban Turkey’s third-largest party, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), and disenfranchise nearly 6 million voters,” Erdemir said.

The HDP, which alleges that the case against it is politically motivated, says the legal proceedings will only strengthen its support.

The Turkish government has maintained a years-long crackdown on the HDP, parliament’s third-largest party, placing thousands of its members on trial over mainly terrorism charges and removing its elected mayors from office.

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