Former CHP leader Baykal takes oath in parliament after 8 months

ANKARA

Former main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal, who has suffered from an illness and undergone medical treatment, took the parliamentary oath on Feb. 21, eight months after elections in June last year.

Baykal, now an MP for the southern province of Antalya, suffered a stroke on Oct. 16, 2017 in Ankara after a blood clot in a major artery going to his brain.

He was in intensive care for 51 days in Ankara’s İbn-i Sina Hospital after returning from a medical treatment in Munich in December 2017.

Baykal’s treatment was completed in Munich before returning to Ankara on March 20 on a private jet provided by the Health Ministry.

Now 80, when Baykal first won a parliamentary seat in 1973, he had become the youngest Turkish deputy.

Baykal has demonstrated “a huge struggle during his political life,” said Deputy Parliament Speaker Levent Gök on the day Baykal rejoined the fold. “I wish for your health and peace,” he added.