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Courts bar Kurdish deputies from Parliament seat
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, İbrahim Ayhan, Gürsel Yıldırım, Selma Irmak, Kemal Aktaş, Faysal Sarıyıldız 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 Diyarbakır 6th High Criminal Court ruled against release of Irmak, Aktaş, Sarıyıldız and Dicle on Saturday night. The decision against release of Ayhan and Yıldırım came from the Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court on Sunday.
One of these six politicians, Dicle, was already stripped of his deputy status by the Supreme Election Board (YSK). In addition to being a jailed suspect in the KCK case, Dicle was separately convicted of “disseminating propaganda of the outlawed PKK” in 2009 by the Ankara 11th High Criminal Court. The Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the decision in March of this year.
The Diyarbakır 6th High Criminal Court said in its decision on Saturday night that it rejected a request from the lawyers of Irmak, Aktaş and Dicle for their release because of risks that the suspects could flee or destroy evidence against them or exert unlawful pressure on witnesses in the case. For Sarıyıldız, the court rejected his release because he is accused of having committed what is called a “catalog crime,” a term that refers to crimes during whose investigation special security measures could be implemented.
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. Disqualification of Dicle by the YSK has already sparked protests in the predominantly Kurdish Southeast.
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