EU calls on Turkey to integrate opposition in parliament

PanARMENIAN.Net - The European Commission has said all parties in Turkey should contribute to the integrity and proper functioning of the Turkish parliament, Today’s Zaman reported.

A statement released by the office of Stefan Füle, EU commissioner for enlargement, said Turkey might face important challenges in the near future and that this situation might necessitate the involvement of all democratic forces in the country.

Members of the new parliament attended an oath-taking ceremony that was marred by a boycott by the pro-Kurdish bloc and the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) in protest of the disqualification of their deputies by courts and the Supreme Election Board (YSK).

Some 30 independent deputies backed by the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) did not attend the ceremony to protest a YSK decision to strip an elected politician, Hatip Dicle, of his parliamentary status due to a past conviction for spreading terrorist propaganda and in protest of subsequent court rulings against the release of Dicle and five other deputies who are jailed suspects in a separate terror-related case.

Members of the CHP, whose two deputies are behind bars as suspects in the Ergenekon case, did come to parliament, but they refused to stand up and walk to the rostrum to take their oaths. “We will not take the oath unless the way is open for all our deputies to take the oath,” CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said less than an hour before parliament convened for the ceremony.

According to Füle, parliament would be positioned right at the heart of the debates and decisions concerning Turkey’s future, adding that all parties should make contributions for the integrity and proper functioning of parliament.