Democratically elected Dicle have on 22 June 2011 has seen his mandate removed by Turkey's Supreme Board of Election (YSK). The Board banned Dicle from taking his seat in the Turkish parliament, despite the fact that he has been legitimately and democratically elected with record level vote. He ran as an independent candidate, but represented the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) during the recent national elections.
It is worthwhile to note that Mr. Dicle has been in custody since 24 December 2009, when he was arrested as part of the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) trial.
Recently, the Ankara 11th High Criminal Court decided to cut 453 days (one year and eight months), the time he has served in prison, from the sentence of 20 months imprisonment he had received in 2010 for spreading what is called as "terrorist propaganda."
On the other hand, he has lost an appeal against his 2010 conviction earlier this month. Nevertheless, DI and numerous human-rights lawyers have repeatedly underlined that the Turkish legislation on terrorism are very vague and subject to broad interpretations, and selective enforcement.
Prior to the elections, the Turkish Election Board had barred seven Kurdish candidates from running, but that decision was reversed under pressure (thousand of people took to the streets for days in protest) on six of them.
Obviously, if Mr. Dicle, who won his seat in the city of Diyarbakir, remains barred from Parliament, a member of Mr. Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Oya Eronat, is expected to replace Mr. Dicle, thereby manipulating the victory of the independent
Source: http://www.welat.eu/english/component/content/article/1331-march-against-dicles-exclusion-from-parliament-
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