Deputy parliamentary speaker's request for translation from Kurdish at General Assembly angers MHP

More tension has arisen in parliament after Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Ay?enur Bahçekap?l? requested a translation of statements by the Peoples? Democratic Party (HDP) in Kurdish to be translated into Turkish for the official stenograph.

On the evening of Feb. 21, lawmakers from the Peoples? Democratic Party (HDP), after taking the rostrum to make statements on several motions, concluded their statement by expressing gratitude to the General Assembly in Kurdish on the occasion of the Feb. 21 International Mother Tongue Day.

Deputy Parliament Speaker Ay?enur Bahçekap?l?, who was administrating the session, asked the HDP deputies to translate their statements in Kurdish into Turkish so that their remarks could be recorded accurately by the stenographs. Each HDP deputy then translated what they said in Kurdish into Turkish.
Sparking reaction from deputies of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the move prompted a procedural debate on the incident.

?We have taken our oaths to represent the Turkish nation as lawmakers of the TBMM [the Grand National Assembly of Turkey]. You, as the speaker, representing the TBMM,? MHP Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Yusuf Halaço?lu said, addressing Bahçekap?l?.

?You cannot have the spoken language retranslated. According to the law, in this parliament, it is not possible to use other languages than Turkish. People may talk in their mother tongue, but not at the TBMM. This doesn?t have anything to do with freedom. It has to do with the state governed by the rule of law and the Constitution,? Halaço?lu said.

Another MHP deputy, Faruk Bal, asked Bahçekap?l? to remove the Kurdish remarks from the records, but was strictly rejected by Bahçekap?l?.

When Bal argued that Bahçekap?l?...