Turkish Parliament’s Opening Marred by Dispute Over Jailed Deputies

By SEBNEM ARSU

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s newly elected Parliament convened on Tuesday, but 169 deputies refused to take their oaths of office in response to court rulings that barred 8 of their colleagues, currently in jail on terrorism-related charges, from joining the assembly.

Thirty-five pro-Kurdish lawmakers boycotted the opening, and 134 members from the Republican People’s Party, the main opposition, took their seats but refused to be sworn in. They said the court rulings, which were issued last week, were undemocratic.

The lawmakers in jail included five independents who were supported by the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party and were being detained on suspicion of having links to the PKK, a militant Kurdish separatist group. Also in custody are two Parliament members from the Republican People’s Party and one from the Nationalist Movement Party; the three are accused of supporting a failed military coup.

In a separate case, the pro-Kurdish politician Hatip Dicle is in jail after having won a seat in Parliament in the June 12 election. But under Turkish law, he is barred from serving because of a previous conviction for spreading terrorist propaganda.

A member of the ruling Justice and Development Party, which finished second in the race for the seat, has taken Mr. Dicle’s place. His lawyers argued that he should be able to serve because his candidacy had been approved by the Senior Election Board.

The Republican People’s Party and the Nationalist Movement Party said they expected the lower courts to reassess last week’s rulings, or for the ruling party to step in with a political solution to prevent the crisis from deepening.

Leaders of the Justice and Development Party strongly criticized the parliamentary boycott and refused to take any action that could be interpreted as interfering in the judicial process. Instead, they encouraged members of the opposition parties to legislate a solution.

“The Parliament is the highest platform from which to struggle for rights and freedoms and should not be boycotted,” said Omer Celik, the party’s deputy chairman. “If opposition parties bring a joint proposal to strengthen the political structure and improve the status of the deputies elected for Parliament, we would do our part for proper representation of our citizens’ votes.”

The Republican People’s Party has indicated that it is preparing a motion to allow its jailed deputies to claim their seats. But democracy advocates point out that hundreds of other suspects have been detained — some for months without official charges — as part of the investigation of the coup accusations, which they say has become a witch hunt against government opponents.

via Turkish Parliament’s Opening Marred by Dispute Over Jailed Deputies – NYTimes.com.