Turkish opposition official discharged from hospital

By Kadir Yildiz

KOCAELI, Turkey (AA) - Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Tekin Bingol was discharged from a hospital in northwestern Kocaeli province on Monday where he was being treated following deterioration of his health during his party’s ongoing protest march.

Bingol’s condition has improved and his treatment has ended, Medical Park Kocaeli Hospital General Manager Soner Sahin told Anadolu Agency.

However, the CHP deputy chairman will not be able to continue the march after his doctor recommended him to rest.

“Our cardiologist has not allowed him to continue his march. He will rest and will not overexert himself,” Sahin said.

CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu launched the march following the jailing of his party’s lawmaker Enis Berberoglu, who was sentenced to 25 years for leaking information on the alleged transportation of arms to Syria.

Berberoglu was convicted of revealing state secrets by passing images to Cumhuriyet daily of Turkish National Intelligence Organization trucks en route to Syria in January 2014.

He was the first CHP deputy to be imprisoned in recent years. Around a dozen lawmakers from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) are currently jailed, most awaiting trial over alleged links to the PKK terror group.

In May 2016, parliament voted to strip lawmakers facing trial of their parliamentary immunity.