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.

“I reiterate that this is a conspiracy case,” she told reporters, adding that the party as a whole would stand alongside the accused.

Prosecutors are seeking multiple life sentences and thousands of years in prison for the HDP members, claiming that they incited Kurdish street protests against government inaction when the Kurdish Syrian border city of Kobane was besieged by Isis in 2014.

Fifty four people were shot dead by Turkish security forces and government-allied paramilitaries during the demonstrations. 

But the regime led by authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sought to blame the HDP for the deaths of 37 of its own supporters.

Ms Buldan said the party’s demand for the establishment of an investigation commission in the Turkish parliament to identify the real perpetrators was rejected earlier this year because the ruling Justice & Development Party (AKP) and the neofascist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are “afraid of the truth coming out.”

The HDP insisted that “solidarity with Kobane cannot be criminalised,” urging people across the world to raise their voices against Mr Erdogan’s latest attack on democracy.

The trial comes as support for the pro-Kurdish party appears to be increasing, with critics suggesting that Mr Erdogan wants it shut down ahead of parliamentary elections that could take place next year.

Turkey’s Constitutional Court is set to hear a separate case after papers filed by the MHP demanded the HDP be closed down, accusing it of links to the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Speaking at the weekend, party spokeswoman Ebru Guney said that despite propaganda and bids to criminalise the HDP, it stood at 15 per cent in all polls. She said this was because “we are the only party in Turkey that advocates democratisation” of the country.

The trial continues.