AK Party, BDP fail to reach deal to end parliament boycott

TODAYSZAMAN.COM

BDP deputy Gülten K??anak (R) told reporters that her party failed to come to an agreement with the AK Party on a joint statement to end the oath-taking crisis.
Pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) lawmakers failed to reach a deal with Turkey’s ruling party on ending their boycott of Parliament, representatives of the two sides told reporters after talks on Thursday.
The boycott by the BDP deputies, prompted by court rulings barring some of its jailed elected candidates from taking their seats, has contributed to political tensions since June’s parliamentary election.
Senior members of the BDP and ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) met for a second day on Thursday to discuss a resolution, but BDP deputy GultEn K??anak told reporters afterwards the two sides failed to agree on a joint text to pave the way to a solution.
“It was evident that the parties were not ready to combine the two [parties’ texts] into a single text,” she said.
“There will be no oath [swearing] today or tomorrow.”
Senior AK Party official Nurettin Canikli said the two sides failed to agree due to BDP demands regarding their jailed colleagues. It was not immediately clear what the demands were.
On Monday the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which won 135 seats in the 550-seat parliament, agreed to end its own boycott of the assembly over bans preventing two of its candidates from taking their seats.
That deal called for joint legal efforts to open the way for the jailed CHP deputies to take their oaths.

The issue of greater rights for Turkey’s minority Kurds is likely to feature highly in debate on the new constitution and the absence of BDP input would undermine efforts to end Turkey’s Kurdish issue.

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