TURKISH COURTS REFUSE TO RELEASE SIX JAILED POLITICIANS ELECTED AS MPS
PanARMENIAN.Net
June 27, 2011 – 12:15 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net – Courts in Diyarbakýr, Turkey, have refused to release
six jailed politicians elected as deputies in the June 12 elections,
barring them from taking their seats in parliament.
All six politicians are backed by the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy
Party (BDP) but they ran in the elections as independent candidates
out of fears that the BDP would be unable to pass Turkey’s 10-percent
election threshold for representation in Parliament.
The politicians, Ýbrahim Ayhan, Gursel Yýldýrým, Selma Irmak, Kemal
Aktaþ, Faysal Sarýyýldýz and Hatip Dicle, are suspects in a court
case into the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), an outlawed group
believed to be linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). They
are accused of being part of the outlawed KCK organization and the
court is demanding up to 15 years imprisonment.
The Kurdish block, which won 36 seats, plans to boycott Parliament,
which convenes for oath-taking on June 28, unless all the jailed
deputies are given the right to join parliament, Today’s Zaman
reported.