ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The Turkish Parliament on Tuesday, October 10, in its first legislative session of the new term, stripped Kurdish lawmaker Besime Konca of her membership over a court ruling that sentenced her to two and a half years of imprisonment in a “terror-related” trial.
With the ouster of Konca, the number of pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) lawmakers at the 550-seat Turkish Parliament fell from 59 to 54.
Police have arrested Konca, a representative for the Kurdish Siirt Province, at least three times since last year over alleged propaganda in a speech for a “terrorist” organization, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in her case.
Konca’s sentencing came in mid-July; however, later the same month, a court decided to release her because of an unjust imprisonment she served between 2009 and 2014.
The Parliament previously kicked out four HDP lawmakers: the party’s former co-leader Figen Yuksekdag, Nursel Aydogan of Diyarbakir, Tugba Hezer of Van, and Faysal Sariyildiz of Sirnak provinces.
While both Yuksekdag and Aydogan are serving prison sentences along with eight other lawmakers and their co-leader Selahattin Demirtas, Hezer and Sariyildiz have fled to a European country.
