HDP applies to Constitutional Court for parliament to reverse its decision to expel Güven, Farisoğulları

Duvar English

The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has announced that it filed an application with Turkey's Constitutional Court regarding the parliament's decision to strip HDP deputies Leyla Güven and Musa Farisoğulları of their jobs.

“According to our finding, the step taken last week is against the 2nd, 10th, 13th, 25th 26th, 67th and 83rd articles of the Constitution. It is against the 133rd article of the Turkish parliament's Bylaw. Because of this, as the step is a trampling of the democratic will and a violation of the international legislation and Turkish Parliament practice, we have filed an application for this implementation to be reversed and for their parliamentary statuses to be reinstated,” HDP group deputy chair Saruhan Oluç said on June 10 during a press meeting at the parliament.

HDP's Güven and Farisoğulları as well as main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) MP Enis Berberoğulları were stripped of their statuses as members of parliament on June 4. Shortly after the decision, all of the deputies were arrested and put in jail.

Güven was released from prison on June 9 after lawyers filed an application in this regard citing her one-year imprisonment in a case which has not been yet concluded.

Berberoğlu on the other hand was on June 5 temporarily released from prison and will remain under house arrest until the end of July as part of coronavirus measures.

As for Farisoğulları, he is still imprisoned at a jail in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır.

Both Güven and Farisoğulları were tried in the main Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) case and were handed six and nine years in prison, respectively.

HDP deputies are often accused of having links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). A number of its deputies were stripped of their statuses in the past and scores of HDP members, including former lawmakers, are currently imprisoned.