Five released Kurdish lawmakers take oath in Turkish Parliament

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

The BDP Şanlıurfa deputy İbrahim Ayhan, BDP Mardin Deputy Gülser Yıldırım, BDP Şırnak deputies Selma Irmak and Faysal Sarıyıldız, as well as independent deputy from Van Kemal Aktaş have taken their oaths in Parliament. AA Photo

Five lawmakers who were recently released from prison took their Parliamentary oaths in Ankara on Jan. 7.

The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Şanlıurfa deputy İbrahim Ayhan, BDP Mardin Deputy Gülser Yıldırım, BDP Şırnak deputies Selma Irmak and Faysal Sarıyıldız, as well as independent deputy from Van Kemal Aktaş have taken their oaths in Parliament. All five deputies were detained as part of the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) trial and were elected as lawmakers in the June 2011 elections. However, they failed to take their oaths at the time because they were being tried under arrest.

On Jan. 3, a court in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır released two jailed Kurdish lawmakers, Ayhan and Yıldırım, hours after announcing a Constitutional Court ruling on Jan. 2, which established that the two’s lengthy detention violated their rights. The other three lawmakers were also released by the court in the following days.

The Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the complaints filed by both lawmakers on the grounds that their detention violated the rights of an elected person and was excessive in duration.