DTP leader criticized for addressing group meeting in Kurdish

Turkish state broadcaster TRT yesterday cut off its live feed of a Democratic Society Party (DTP) group meeting when the party's leader, Ahmet Turk, began addressing the deputies in Kurdish. "The Constitution and the Political Parties Law bans the use of any language other than Turkish in Parliament and in group meetings," said TRT in a statement. "Thus we had to cut off the live broadcast, and we apologize for this." Speaking on the incident, Parliament Speaker Toptan said, "Turkish is the official language (of the Turkish Republic). This is clear in the Constitution and Political Parties Law." Nihat Ergun, deputy chair of the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) parliament group, branded Turk's speech a "provocation." Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) lawmaker Onur Oymen said, "Speaking one's mother tongue is a human right, but it should not be turned into a political show in Parliament."