Two more Kurdish lawmakers ousted from Turkish Parliament

With the latest removal, the number of the pro-Kurdish party’s lawmakers at the 550-seated Turkish Parliament fell from 59 to 55.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The Turkish Parliament on Thursday voted for the removal of two pro-Kurdish lawmakers who failed to attend parliamentary sessions for over a year.

Opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) MP Tugba Hezer of the Van Province and Faysal Sariyildiz of the Sirnak Province fled Turkey to Europe in May 2016, shortly after the Turkish Parliament passed a law lifting lawmakers’ immunity from prosecution.

Members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and those of its far-right ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), voted to remove Sariyildiz and Hezer from the Parliament, said Kurdistan 24’s Ankara bureau.

Of the lawmakers present, 324 voted yes while 20 said no.

With the latest removal, the number of the pro-Kurdish party’s lawmakers at the 550-seated Turkish Parliament fell from 59 to 55.

HDP Co-chair Serpil Kemalbay, who was leading a week-long demonstration in the city of Diyarbakir against the Turkish government for its crackdown on Kurdish political movement, called the dismissal of her MPs a “disgrace.”

In a tweet, Kemalbay said the move was a violation of people’s will.

The Parliament previously kicked out two HDP lawmakers: the party’s former co-leader Figen Yuksekdag and Nursel Aydogan, following a court conviction.

Turkish courts have issued arrest warrants for both Hezer, the Parliament’s youngest member at 27, and Sariyildiz on terrorism-related charges for their campaign speeches and attendance at funerals for fallen Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) members who fight government forces.

According to Turkish media, one of Hezer’s brothers was a PKK fighter killed by the army.

Reports also claim her sister remains in the ranks of the US-backed People’s Protection Units (YPG) which is leading the war against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government officials have accused the HDP, the country’s second-largest opposition block, of being a political front for the PKK.

The ongoing crackdown on the HDP has seen thousands of arrests against its members nationwide as 11 of its lawmakers, including the party’s co-leader Selahattin Demirtas, remain in prison since last year.

 

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany