Turkish parliament strips status of three opposition MPs
Turkey's parliament stripped two pro-Kurdish lawmakers and one MP from the main opposition party of their parliamentary status on Thursday after convictions against them became final. Those stripped of their status were Leyla Güven and Musa Farisoğulları from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and the Republican People's Party's (CHP) Enis Berberoğlu.
- Türkiye
- Agencies and A News
- Published Date: 06:48 | 04 June 2020
- Modified Date: 06:51 | 04 June 2020
Turkey's parliament on Thursday stripped three opposition party deputies of their legislative seats.
One of the lawmakers is from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and two others are from opposition People's Democratic Party (HDP).
The decisions were announced in parliament after appeals courts upheld Enis Berberoğlu's conviction for disclosing government secrets and the convictions of Leyla Güven and Musa Farisoğulları for being members of a terrorist organisation.
Güven from the southeastern Hakkari province was sentenced to six years and three months by a provincial court for being a member of an "armed terror organization".
Farisoğullari from the southeastern Diyarbakır province was sentenced to nine years for being a member of an "armed terror organization."
Berberoğlu, an Istanbul lawmaker, was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison for leaking state secrets to a newspaper in June 2017. The sentence was later affirmed by an appeals court.
He was found guilty of leaking footage to a journalist showing MIT trucks being stopped en route to Syria in January 2014.
In that incident, gendarmerie officers affiliated with the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) stopped the MIT trucks on their way to Syria, despite government orders to let them pass.
FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gülen orchestrated a defeated coup on July 15, 2016, leaving 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.
Following the decision, CHP now holds 138 seats in the parliament, HDP 58 seats, the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party 291 seats, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) 49, Good (IYI) Party 37, Turkish Workers Party two, independents six seats, while Democracy and Progress (Remedy) Party, Democrat Party (DP), Grand Unity Party (BBP), Saadet (Felicity) Party, and Democratic Regions Party (DBP) hold one each.
Emin Akbaşoğlu, a senior AK Party legislator, said the move was in line with the Turkish Constitution.
"The HDP and CHP's positions that openly praise the crime and the criminal is unacceptable," he said.