CHP Refuse Parliamentary Oath

The Chairman of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, announced on Tuesday (28 June) that the CHP faction will not take the parliamentary oath in the oath-taking ceremony in the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM).

This decision came after the release of detained elected CHP deputies Mustafa Balbay and Prof. Mehmet Haberal was rejected last week. Both Haberal and Balbay are detained defendants of the "Ergenekon" trial on the clandestine ultra-nationalist Ergenekon organization allegedly nested within the state and the military.

CHP leader Kılıçdaroğlu declared:

"We as the CHP do not want any concessions. We do not want any additional privilege and immunity for any of our colleagues who have been elected Member of Parliament. We do not say not to prosecute them. We are not talking about a plea for mercy. We oppose the usurpation of our colleagues' right to take the [parliamentary] oath. They have not been convicted, there was no obstacle before their election and they obtained a document approving their deputyship and their mandate by the YSK [Supreme Election Council]. We furthermore oppose the disrespect shown to other deputies who are in the same situation. Our stance is a requirement for the respect of the national will (...). We as the CHP deputies will not take our oaths as long as our colleagues are not able to do so".

The Istanbul 13^th High Criminal Court first rejected the release of Balbay and Haberal and now also dismissed their lawyers' request to correct the decision. Thereupon, the file was forwarded to the superior court on 28 June.

"We are not playing this game"

Hüseyin Aygün, CHP Deputy for Tunceli (eastern Turkey), evaluated his party's decision in an interview with bianet. He announced that they were going to continue the boycott of the oath-taking until all persons who gained the right to deputyship in the parliamentary elections held on 12 June would have entered parliament.

MP Aygün said it was unacceptable that the judicial bureaucracy was putting an obstacle before the will of the people. He underlined that their decision not to take the parliamentary oath was not only valid for the detained CHP deputies Balbay and Haberal.

Eight elected Members of Parliament are currently being detained in the scope of the Ergenegon trial, the Sledgehammer case and the trial about the partly armed Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK), Aygün pointed out. He stated that their boycott would go on until all of them will have entered parliament.

"A game between the government and the judiciary which is under the control of the government is being displayed. We do not take the parliamentary oath because we disapprove of this game and its rules. We want to open a different way".

Aygün continued, "The Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), the special authority courts and the Supreme Election Board (YSK) have all fallen under the control of the government. With our stance we show that we are not playing this game and that we are not serving as an audience for it".

"Also the court decisions need to be thoroughly discussed. Although Hatip Dicle received his mandate, the YSK disbarred him of his deputyship. What does that mean? The YSK had its say until the elections. However, today the YSK is under the control of the government and serves the plans of the government, Aygün noted. (ŞA/AS/EKN/VK)