Israel Matzav

Erdogan stealing more votes?

You will recall that at the end of the Turkish elections, Recep Tayipp Erdogan and his AKP were five votes short of being able to establish their Muslim Caliphate. Now, through the courts which are beholden to them, they are trying to steal those votes. The Kurds, at least, are quite upset about it.

Reactions were harsh from the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) after the Supreme Election Board (YSK) voted unanimously on Tuesday night to strip Hatip Dicle, who was elected to Parliament as an independent candidate last Sunday, of his deputyship.

Ahmet Türk, the co-chairman of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Congress (DTK), which convened on Wednesday to evaluate the YSK decision, said the decision is neither moral nor legal. “This is a decision to drag Turkey into a state of chaos,” he said. Noting that democratic politics are being blocked, he added, “The nation will hold this mentality, which blocks efforts for democracy, accountable.”

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Dicle was endorsed by the BDP from Diyarbakır, a predominantly Kurdish province in the Southeast, after the pro-Kurdish party decided to enter the June 12 general elections with independent candidates, fearing that it would fail to exceed the 10 percent election threshold if it entered the elections as a party. He was convicted of “disseminating the propaganda of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party [PKK]” in 2009 by the Ankara 11th High Criminal Court, and the Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the decision in March of this year. The court sentenced Dicle to one year, eight months in prison on terrorism charges.

Dicle is also currently on trial in the 6th Diyarbakır High Criminal Court as a suspect in a separate investigation into the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK). He was detained in December 2009 as part of the KCK probe and has been in custody since. Dicle's lawyers appealed to the 11th Ankara High Criminal Court to cut the prison term he had served as a detainee during the KCK investigation from his earlier conviction of 20 months on charges of “disseminating the propaganda of the PKK.” As the Supreme Court of Appeals only recently upheld the 2009 decision by the 11th Ankara High Criminal Court, Dicle was in custody not because of his 2009 conviction but as part of the investigation into the KCK.

Last week, the Ankara court decided to cut 453 days, the period he had served as a detainee during the KCK probe, from the sentence he originally received in 2009. The YSK convened on Tuesday to discuss Dicle’s deputyship. The board decided that Dicle does not qualify to become a deputy in accordance with Article 76 of the Constitution. According to the Constitution, persons who have been convicted of dishonorable offenses such as involvement in acts or terrorism or incitement and encouragement of such activities shall not be elected deputies even if they have been pardoned.

After the cancellation of Dicle’s deputyship, Oya Eronat, a Diyarbakır candidate for deputy from the AK Party, won a parliamentary seat. Eronat came second to Dicle in Diyarbakır in the elections. She obtained her official deputyship certification on Wednesday afternoon. The BDP seats in Parliament have dropped to 35, while those of the AK Party have risen to 327.

Reader Joshua I reports by email that the AKP is challenging a total of eleven seats, including Dicle's (Dicle is apparently one of six from the KCK probe):

1 seat
Court rejects jailed MHP deputy’s demand for release: http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?load=detay&newsId=248495&link=248495

2 seats
Court bars Ergenekon suspects from entering Parliament : http://www.todayszaman.com/news-248284-court-bars-ergenekon-suspects-from-entering-parliament.html

6 seats
Prosecutors call for rejection of jailed KCK deputies’ demand for release: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-248248-prosecutors-call-for-rejection-of-jailed-kck-deputies-demand-for-release.html

1 seat
Youngest deputy in Parliament after vote count at Customs gates: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-248060-youngest-deputy-in-parliament-after-vote-count-at-customs-gates.html

1 seat
AK Party candidate gets seat after YSK rules to disbar Kurdish deputy: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-248164-ak-party-candidate-gets-seat-after-ysk-rules-to-disbar-kurdish-deputy-.html

Turkey’s election board strips pro-Kurdish BDP deputy's mandate: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-248153-turkeys-election-board-strips-pro-kurdish-bdp-deputys-mandate.html

I wonder if they have dead people voting like in Chicago. Well, at least Obama should fit right in with these people.

Labels: AKP, PKK, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish elections

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:52 PM