"A Nationalist Kurdish Party in New Turkish Parliament
20 of the 22 newly elected Kurdish independents officially joined the Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) on Sunday and formed a parliamentary group in the new Turkish parliament. For DTP to have a parliamentary group will grant its legislators more speaking time during the sessions, and enable it to appoint members for parliamentary committees and for the speaker’s office. Since 1991 there has not been a Kurdish party represented in Turkish parliament and given the fact that DTP leader Ahmet Turk, a Kurd, has so far refused to recognize the PKK as a terrorist organization will most probably lead to tensions in the parliament especially with the members of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
DTP is now the fourth political party represented in the new parliament.
Source: Zaman, Turkish Daily News, Turkey, July 31, 2007"
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