Turkey's newly elected parliament is set to be sworn in tomorrow, but there is the distinct possibility that a large chunk of the new MP's will either boycott the event or show up and not swear in.
From Today's Zaman:
The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), which is reported to be planning not to attend the parliamentary oath-taking ceremony on Tuesday in protest of a court decision to bar two of its deputies from Parliament, will reveal its decision on the issue half an hour before the oath-taking ceremony, a CHP official said on Monday.CHP İstanbul deputy İsa Gök said CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu will call a press conference on 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday and announce the party's decision whether to attend the parliamentary oath-taking ceremony or not.
News reports claimed on Monday that CHP deputies will not take their parliamentary oath unless a concrete step is taken by Parliament in order to pave the way for its two jailed deputies to hold office. CHP İstanbul deputy Oktay Ekşi is expected to be the only CHP deputy to take his oath as he will preside over the session as the oldest member of Parliament.
Parliament is set to convene at 3 p.m. on Tuesday for the oath-taking ceremony, after courts in İstanbul and Diyarbakır rejected requests for the release from jail of nine elected candidates, effectively barring them from taking their seats in Parliament. Most of the disqualified candidates are from a Kurdish bloc, which won 36 seats in the June 12 elections. Six of them, all jailed suspects in a case investigating the outlawed Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), however, have been barred by the court overseeing the trial from Parliament. Members of the Kurdish bloc are backed by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) but ran as independent candidates in the June 12 elections out of fear that the BDP would not get enough votes to pass the 10 percent election threshold.
The courts separately refused to release two elected candidates from the main opposition CHP and one from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and who all face charges in connection with two cases, Ergenekon and Sledgehammer.
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