CHP MP switches over to Felicity Party after death of Bitmez to uphold parliamentary group

Duvar English

Ali Fazıl Kasap, deputy of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), on Dec. 16 switched over to the Felicity (Saadet) Party to uphold the latter’s parliamentary group during budget hearings. 

Kasap submitted a petition to the Parliamentary Secretariat to switch over to the Felicity Party.  

The Felicity parliamentary group reformed as the deputy number rose to 20. The Felicity and Future (Gelecek) Party joint group had fallen through after Bitmez's death as the minimum requirement to form a parliamentary group is 20 as per Turkish Parliamentary bylaws. 

Kasap stated that he felt a conscientious responsibility to keep the deceased Hasan Bitmez’s words in the parliament. 

CHP’s Group Deputy Chair Gökhan Günaydın said that Kasap’s switch was so that the opposition’s voice was not restricted, and that the reality of the people could be openly voiced in Parliament. 

“We expect other parties’ support to the decision we made to keep the opposition’s voice heard,” Günaydın concluded. 

The opposition Felicity Party’s Sakarya deputy Hasan Bitmez died on Dec. 14 in an intensive care unit two days after suffering a heart attack in the parliamentary rostrum.

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