TURKEY’S opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) warned of a conspiracy by the state to shut it down today as the hearing of 108 senior party officials reopened in Ankara.

Party co-chair Pervin Buldan said the so-called Kobane trial of leading HDP members on 37 counts of homicide was “politically motivated,” describing the charges as an act of revenge.

Speaking outside Sincan prison in the Turkish capital, she said that the real perpetrators of crimes were being protected while the HDP — which had tried to prevent the killings — was being put on trial.