Turkey : Boycott may prompt new poll

Turkey is facing a parliamentary boycott by Kurdish MPs that could force fresh by-elections, after the election board there stripped a Kurdish deputy of his newly won seat in parliament over a conviction for links to militants.

Hatip Dicle, one of 36 Kurdish-backed candidates to win a seat in a parliamentary election in June, lost an appeal earlier this month against a 2010 conviction for spreading terrorist propaganda, which resulted in an 20-month sentence.

"We will either enter the parliament with 36 deputies or not enter at all. The Election Board decision is unacceptable for the people of Diyarbaki," said Filiz Kocali, co-chair of the BDP.