Kurdish legislators set for boycott

Kurdish legislators have said they will boycott the Turkish parliament when it reconvenes on Monday after the main Kurdish party, the Democratic Society Party (DTP), was banned by the country’s constitutional court.

Ahmet Turk, the DTP chairman, has said party legislators have already “pulled out from parliament” and would boycott all further work.

The constitutional court outlawed the DTP on Friday, saying it had links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which the government has listed as a “terrorist group”.

The DTP was left with 19 members in the 550-seat legislature after two of its leaders, including Turk, were stripped of their seats as part of Friday’s verdict.

The remaining 19 parliamentarians can sit as independents or regroup under the banner of a new party.

The DTP is preparing to appeal its closure at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, a party official said.

The ban of the party has angered Kurds across the country. Activists clashed with police and Turkish nationalists in several cities over the weekend and at least 60 people were detained.

A group of party supporters threw stones and firebombs at shops, apartment buildings and cars in one of Istanbul’s busiest streets on Sunday.