Turkish parliament strips status of two more pro-Kurdish lawmakers

Turkey's parliament stripped two lawmakers of their parliamentary status for "insulting Erdoğan" and sharing a picture of a Kurdish militant
Tuesday, 27 February 2018 22:12

The Turkish parliament on Tuesday stripped two more MPs from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) of their mandates.

Ahmet Yıldırım, member of parliament for the eastern province of Muş, lost his seat after he was jailed for 14 months for insulting Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

İbrahim Ayhan, a representative of the southeastern town of Şanlıurfa, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for sharing online the photo of a Turkish citizen who died in the Syrian Kurdish-held town of Kobane while fighting Islamic State and for attending the funerals of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) members. He was convicted of sharing terrorist propaganda.

A total of nine HDP lawmakers have been stripped of their mandates, including some of those jailed. In total, only 46 of the 59 HDP deputies elected in the last 2015 polls can carry out their duties in parliament.

HDP members protested the decision by leaving the general assembly before the official note was read.

Former party leaders Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ are among nine HDP MPs currently in jail on charges of links to the PKK which they deny.

In 2016, the legislative immunity of lawmakers was lifted through the joint votes of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).