Following the arrest of People's Democracy Party (HDP) co-chairs Selahaddin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ along with other deputies and Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Gültan Kışanak, EU representatives raised their "deep concern" and rushed to make condemnations of the court's decision, slamming the arrests of elected politicians. Some even urged the European Union to cut off Turkey's accession bid altogether and call off the refugee deal, which effectively mitigated the refugee flow to Greece through Turkey. These irrational reactions reflect the EU's emotional sentiments on Turkey, especially the disdain against its president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.What happened to Batasuna in Spain?When Spain, a member of both the EU and the Council of Europe, banned the political extension of ETA, Batasuna, it had one representative in the European Parliament, seven seats in the parliament of the Basque autonomous region and was governing at least 60 local towns in the region. Prior to the decision to ban Batasuna permanently, the Supreme Court had already closed down Egunkaria, the only daily newspaper publishing in the Basque language, and 10 of its former and remaining executives were arrested in 2003. All in all, the precautions that the Spanish government took against ETA and ETA-linked organizations included the freezing of Batasuna's assets, the closure of newspapers and magazines, and the detention of their reporters and directors.When Spain took these steps, instead of suspending Spain's EU membership or threatening to expel it, the EU recognized Batasuna as part of the ETA terrorist organization, and added it into the EU's list of terrorist organizations. Furthermore, the EU Justice and Home Affairs commissioner openly sided with the Spanish government in its fight against terrorism when Batasuna's call for the EU to be a mediator to reignite peace talks was rejected by the commissioner in 2007. Two years later in 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which rules on individual or state applications alleging violations of the civil and political rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights, found no violation of Article 11 and upheld the Spanish Supreme Court decision on the banning of Batasuna.Batasuna's lack of condemnation on attacks killing civilians and officials perpetrated by ETA, glorifying terrorism, using videos broadcasting armed and masked ETA terrorists for propaganda, applying violence for gaining political influence, and preventing pluralism in the political scene are the reasons that subjected it to being labelled a terrorist organization by Spanish courts whose decision was supported by the EU and upheld by the ECHR.No democracy allows any politicians and politically-motivated groups to get involved in terrorist propaganda or activities. The Spanish Supreme Court's decision, which was upheld by the ECHR, also demonstrated that no political party and group is immune from the judicial process, if they are implicated in terrorism.HDP in Turkey different to Batasuna in Spain?The Turkish state had shared the bitter experiences in detaching the Kurdish Question from the PKK terrorism of the 1990s. Yet, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan dramatically shifted the official approach toward Kurdish people both in the internal and regional contexts; internally, the government launched democratic openings that extended the Kurdish people's cultural and political rights, and, externally, cemented its political, cultural and economic ties with Kurdish entities in neighboring countries. Most importantly, for the first time in Turkish political history, the government publicly started a peace process paving the way for a two-year cease-fire, that fell in July 2015.In this environment of peace and negotiation, the HDP contested as a political party in general elections held on June 7. Kurdish politicians generally prefer to run as independents due to the 10 percent national threshold barriers for parties. But the HDP won 13 percent of the nation-wide votes, enabling it to obtain 80 seats, which made it the third biggest party in Parliament. The political atmosphere following the elections made it a low possibility to build a coalition in Parliament among political parties, which was considered an immense opportunity by the PKK to gain territorial control through escalating violence, particularly linking it together with its regional gains in Syria since Turkey was expected to suffer a political crisis in the near future. Despite the PKK's calculations and raise in attacks, on Nov. 1, after the failure of the parties to form a coalition, the AK Party gained enough seats to form a single majority government in a snap election with the supporting vote coming from mostly Kurdish-dominated regions where the PKK broke the cease-fire, and the HDP's vote across the country decreased by 3 percent within five months.The reason behind the HDP's vote decrease and connoting it with terrorism is its failure to distance itself from the PKK terrorism. Since the PKK started fighting in the cities, HDP members not only provided political support by glorifying terrorism and abiding by the PKK's declarations but also aided the PKK by digging trenches in cities and setting up hand-made explosives on the roads by dispatching bulldozers owned by HDP municipalities.In Spain, the dissolution process against Batasuna in parliament had been launched after it denounced condemnation of the ETA's Santo Pola attack in 2002, which caused the death of two civilians including a six year-old girl. Condemnations of PKK attacks, including car bomb attacks, are repeatedly not forthcoming from the HDP. One of the most striking acts of refusal to condemn the PKK by the HDP occurred in February 2016 when the HDP refused to sign Parliament's proclamation to condemn the attack perpetrated by the PKK's offshoot the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) using a car bomb that killed 28, including a civilian in a central area of Ankara, near Parliament. The HDP's refusal to condemn the attacks followed by the HDP members' attendance at the perpetrator's funeral disturbed the public conscience to the core.The European Court of Human Rights unanimously approved the closure of Batasuna by stating that Batasuna threatened the democratic order by abiding by the declarations of ETA. This is no different than the leader of Parliament's third biggest political party HDP Co-Chair Demirtaş's open support to legitimize the "democratic autonomy" declared by the PKK when it broke the cease-fire and began attacking cities. Political parties in democracies are expected to push society into more democratic paths, represent their constituencies in democratic processes to provide peace and order, and not to be defenders of terrorist organizations' declarations, acting as their spokespersons.Turkey's judiciary, just like its counterparts in Spain, takes precautions against terror organizations as well as any seemingly civilian and/or political movements that openly provide support and propaganda for terrorist groups. While doing so, by denying collective punishment as Spain did, it only focuses on the investigation of individuals with regards to their specific cases that not only shows Turkey's belief in the rule of law but also its reliance on the political process. Like in a member country of the EU and the Council of Europe, Turkey is a mature democracy that allows any political party to be represented in Parliament akin to the HDP's success with its "discourse of peace" in the June elections, provided that these parties function in democratic, political spheres and severe any ties with terrorist organizations.There are no questions about it, the fight against terrorism entails an international collaboration. Thirteen years ago, European officials supported Spain's effort to dismantle elements of a terrorist organization from Spanish politics. Turkey now expects the same support in its fight against a group listed as a terrorist organization by the EU. The same sincerity and engagement toward Turkish democracy is expected.* The author holds an MA degree in European Studies at Sabancı University and currently works as an International Relations specialist at the Turkish Presidency.