Turkish court delays putting pro-Kurdish party on trial

Turkey's top court on Wednesday delayed putting the country's main pro-Kurdish party on trial over its alleged links to militants waging a deadly insurgency against the state.

Prosecutors this month put an indictment before the Constitutional Court aimed at dissolving the leftist opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and banning 687 of its members from engaging in politics for five years. 

The Constitutional Court had been due to rule Wednesday whether to accept the indictment and open a formal trial.

But its judges decided unanimously to send the case back to the country's top public prosecutor to fix "procedural shortcomings" in the file, the private NTV broadcaster reported. 

That means the case against the HDP has been delayed for "an indefinite period of time", the report said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long portrayed the HDP as the political front of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK has been waging an insurgency since 1984 that has killed tens of thousands and is considered a terrorist organisation by Ankara and its Western allies.

But the HDP firmly denies formal links to the militants. It says it is coming under attack because of its fervent opposition to Erdogan's 18-year rule.

Agencies contributed to this report.