The Ministry of the Interior has dismissed dozens of elected HDP mayors since the Municipal Elections held in March 2019,[4][5] while more than hundred politicians are threatened with life sentences due to the Kobane protests which supported the Kurdish population in Kobanî during the Siege of Kobanî led by the Islamic State (IS).[6][5] The HDP was accused of being a terrorist organization by several representatives of the Turkish Government and its closure was demanded by the MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli.[7][8] Bahçeli insinuated that if a closure case was not initiated by the state prosecutor, the MHP itself would demand its closure over the Turkish Party Law.[7] The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as well called the party leaders terrorists.[9] MP Meral Danış Bestaş stated that the judiciary would be able to close down the Party, but the movement of the party would not be able to be closed.[8] The party co-chair, Mithat Sancar, stated that the movement would just regroup in another party as they have done so in the past when pro-Kurdish parties were closed.[10] The same day as the lawsuit against the HDP was filed, a HDP MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioglu was stripped of his parliamentary immunity.[11][10] For the closure of the party a majority of two thirds of the judges of the Constitutional Court would have to rule accordingly.[12]