People’s Democratic Party (HDP) Parliament member and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Human Rights Monitoring Committee member Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu has lost his seat at the Parliament due to the 2-year 6-month imprisonment sentence that was issued against him in 2018 and was approved by the Court of Cassation in February based on a news article he shared on social media. Gergerlioğlu losing his seat at the Parliament was broadcasted live on Parliament TV, whereas the cameras neither showed the hall, nor Gergerlioğlu. After the decree was read at the Parliament, Gergerlioğlu and other People’s Democratic Party (HDP) Parliament members started a sit-in protest at the Parliament holding banners they had prepared. In the meantime, journalists were taken out of the General Assembly based on the General Bylaw and the Parliament TV cut the broadcast. Gergerlioğlu made a statement and said, “This decree violates the Constitution. This is a political decree and we do not recognise this decree.” The People’s Democratic Party (HDP) Group protested the decree by not leaving the Parliament.
17.03.2021
bianet.org