Courts in Diyarbakır, Turkey, have refused to release six jailed politicians elected as deputies in the June 12 elections, barring them from taking their seats in parliament.

All six politicians are backed by the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) but they ran in the elections as independent candidates out of fears that the BDP would be unable to pass Turkey's 10-percent election threshold for representation in Parliament.

The politicians, İbrahim Ayhan, Gürsel Yıldırım, Selma Irmak, Kemal Aktaş, Faysal Sarıyıldız and Hatip Dicle, are suspects in a court case into the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), an outlawed group believed to be linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). They are accused of being part of the outlawed KCK organization and the court is demanding up to 15 years imprisonment.

The Kurdish block, which won 36 seats, plans to boycott Parliament, which convenes for oath-taking on June 28, unless all the jailed deputies are given the right to join parliament, Today’s Zaman reported.