Lawmakers from Turkey's main opposition party took the parliamentary oath Monday, ending a row with the ruling party over the detention of several deputies elected in June's polls from behind bars. The Republican People's Party (CHP), which holds 135 seats in the 550-member legislature, had boycotted the opening ceremony of the parliament in June along with Kurdish deputies in protest at the imprisonment of the elected lawmakers.
The CHP and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) issued a joint statement Monday, calling on all deputies who had refused to take the oath to be sworn in and participate in parliamentary work. "We believe that all political parties and lawmakers should be in the parliament to fulfil the honoured duty bestowed on them by our nation," the statement said.
The statement implicitly made a call to courts to "interpret and apply" the laws in a way that will "expand freedoms." Defying a 2007 precedent, courts last month refused to free nine opposition lawmakers, elected while awaiting trial in prison. The courts said the deputies risk to flee trials or hide evidence. Two of the detained deputies, journalist Mustafa Balbay and academic Mehmet Haberal, were elected on the CHP ticket. They were imprisoned more than two years ago on charges of involvement in alleged plots to destabilise and overthrow the AKP.
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