The mainstream TV channel ‘ATV’ in Turkey has presented its viewers and potential voters with a misleading logo of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in a news bulletin, which drew an official complaint from the HDP.

The HDP made a formal complaint to Turkey’s broadcast regulator, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) about changing its party logo in this provocative manner.

The HDP issued a statement about its complaint: “The organisation clearly targeted the HDP and its voters with this broadcast and has committed hate crimes under the guise of public broadcasting”.

The channel was reporting about the social media posts of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) President Devlet Bahçeli regarding the closure of the HDP, which many interpret as an instruction to the judiciary.

In the broadcast during ATV’s main news bulletin, the HDP’s logo was changed. The channel replaced the HDP’s leaves and stars in the party logo with bombs and bullets.

An HDP statement said: “The news organisation clearly targeted the HDP and its voters with this broadcast and has committed hate crimes under the name of broadcasting,”

HDP also filed a criminal complaint to the prosecutor’s office, “By displaying the HDP’s logo on a mainstream channel like this is amoral and unethical, it is openly committing a constitutional crime.”