Parliament Speaker’s Office rejects question on Turkish soldiers killed by ISIL

ANKARA

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The Parliament Speaker’s Office has refused to respond to a question registered by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) regarding an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) video showing two Turkish soldiers being burned to death. 

It claimed that the question address to the prime minister by CHP deputy Didem Engin “did not fulfill the requirements” of a parliamentary question. 

“The short and unjustified question demands information about clear and apparent issues with a proposal that doesn’t include issues on personality and private life without asserting personal views,” read the reply. 
Engin slammed the answer as evidence of “bias.”

“My parliamentary question was rejected despite the fact it suited parliament’s bylaw. This rejection is an indication of the open and overt bias of the Parliamentary Deputy Speaker,” she said. 

“Although the issue should have been brought to light right away, [the government] tried to make people forget it through Internet restrictions. What’s more, the response that my question was rejected and will not be put into process was transmitted to me 18 days after I submitted it. I refer the rejection reply on such a significant issue to the public’s conscience,” she added.  

A video released by ISIL in December, 2016 showed two men dressed in Turkish military uniforms being set on fire. The video went viral on social media and caused public outrage, while the Turkish Armed Forces did not issue a confirmation.  

Defense Minister Fikri Işık on Dec. 23, 2016 said he had information that three Turkish soldiers were abducted by ISIL militants in northern Syria but added that other “comments” beyond this information were not confirmed.

Meanwhile, two Turkish soldiers who went missing in action during the Euphrates Shield Operation in Syria in November 2016 were confirmed to have been killed on Jan. 10.

Two non-commissioned officers, identified as Muhammet Duran Keskin and Kıvanç Kaşıkçı, were announced to have been killed near al-Bab.