Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday, June 30, challenged Turkey's main opposition party and the pro-Kurdish bloc, which have so far refused to take their parliamentary oaths in protest of the imprisonment of some of their deputies, saying it's their choice to boycott Parliament and that this poses no obstacle to parliament's functioning, Today’s Zaman reported.

“There is no situation that would prevent the functioning of parliament, no matter whether the opposition comes or not. ... Parliament will begin working and the first step is the elections to be held for the parliament presidency on Tuesday,” the PM said as he addressed his party's first parliamentary group meeting at Justice and Development Party (AK Party) headquarters in Ankara.

Turkish lawmakers on Tuesday took their oaths in a parliamentary session, but the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and independent deputies supported by the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) boycotted the ceremony.