Kurdish deputies Leyla Zana and Aysel Tuğluk, who received a five-year political ban by the Constitutional Court in 2009 following the closure of Democratic Society Party (DTP), will now be able to join political parties and participate in political activities. Both deputies have stated that they will be joining the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

Leyla Zana and Aysel Tuğluk, along with 30 other politicians, were banned from politics for five years in 2009 for being members of DTP, which allegedly had links with the PKK. While the decision banned their affiliation with political parties, Zana and Tuğluk were re-elected to the Parliament in 2011 as independents.

Their transfer to HDP will increase the party’s seats in the Parliament to 29.