Tensions in commission over botched air raid

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Tensions rise in Parliament following a panel debate on the Uludere air raid. AA photo

The simmering controversy over last year’s botched Uludere air raid stoked more political tensions yesterday as opposition deputies walked out of Parliament’s Human Rights Commission after the chairman rejected demands for fresh discussions on the issue.

“Where will we discuss what is being debated all over Turkey, if not at Parliament’s Human Rights Commission? The chairman has violated human rights with his attitude,” main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy chair Sezgin Tanrıkulu told reporters after the squabble.

Commission chair Ayhan Sefer Üstün, a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), had rejected the demands on the grounds that the Uludere raid was not on the panel’s agenda. After a heated quarrel, six CHP deputies left the meeting. The AKP’s Oya Eronat added to the tensions when she accused Peace and Democracy (BDP) lawmaker Ertuğrul Kürkçü of representing the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).