Status as Member of Parliament not Restored for Kurdish Politicians

The Presidency of the Turkey Grand National Assembly (TBMM) rejected the applications of Kurdish politicians Ahmet Türk and Aysel Tuğluk related to restoring their status as members of parliament.

Following amendments enforced after the referendum on the constitutional reform package in 2010, the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) had applied to parliament for restoring Türk's and Tuğluk's status as MPs.

Upon the TBMM's rejection of the application, lawyer Öztürk Türkdoğan brought the issue before the Constitutional Court on behalf of Türk and Tuğluk.

On Thursday (17 March), the High Court dismissed the request "by majority vote".

"Law is not functioning"

In a statement made to bianet, Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Co-Chair Aysel Tuğluk deemed the process as unlawful and unjust. Tuğluk pointed out that a different law is applied if Kurds are involved. She criticized that according to the amendments of the Constitution, they should have been re-granted their right to the status as members of parliament.

"It was not lawful to depose us from office and related to the latest decision we can speak of discrimination against us. They do not make the law work" said Tuğluk and remarked that they applied to the Constitutional Court in order to exhibit the injustice in the country.

She continued, "We partly applied to make this understood. We applied to see whether law and justice would really be applied. We present this decision to the public attention. This decision against the power of the people was assessed as injustice both by the Kurdish and the Turkish public opinion and on an international scale".

"Disrespecting the power of the people"

Tuğluk emphasized that based on the amendments of the Constitution in fact the parliament had to restore their status as MPs directly. However, she thinks that politically they did not dare to do so.

Tuğluk evaluated the decision as disrespectful of the people's power and said that politically and in terms of law this was unacceptable.

"We brought our exclusion from the status as MPs to the European Court of Human Rights [ECHR]. Ahmet Türk and I took huge efforts for living together in peace in this country. We fought for that in parliament. The parliament floor is being closed for Kurds and pushes them towards other pursuits. This floor must be kept open. Applications like this one harm Turkey. If we lived together we would find solutions together".

Tuğluk and Türk lost status of MPs

The pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) was closed as the result of a closure case filed by the Court of Appeals Chief Prosecution based on alleged support for the armed outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The DTP was eventually dissolved by reasons of "focussing on activities against the indivisible integrity of the territory and nation of the state".

Thereupon, DTP MPs Türk and Tuğluk lost their status as MPs according to Article 69/9 of the Constitution.

A five-year political ban was imposed on 35 DTP members including Türk and Tuğluk as well as Selim Sadak, Leyla Zana and Nurettin Demirtaş on 12 December 2009. (EKN)