Turkey's top court overturned on Thursday an appeal by politician Hatip Dicle regarding his dropped parliament membership, closing his last way to reverse the ban.

Constitutional Court overturned an appeal by Dicle, who had lost his parliament membership due to a past conviction for spreading propaganda of terrorist organization, saying that it was not authorized to deal with the file under Article 79 of the Constitution.

Following June 12th general elections, Turkey's Higher Election Board (YSK) stripped Hatip Dicle, an independent MP, of his parliament seat due to a past conviction.

According to the Constitution, those who are sentenced to imprisonment terms of a year or more cannot be elected MP. Dicle lost his chance to become a lawmaker since he was sentenced to 1 year and 8 months in prison.

Ankara Chief Prosecutor's Office with Special Authority had filed a lawsuit on March 31, 2008 against Dicle on charges of disseminating propaganda of the terrorist organization. In 2009, Ankara Criminal Court sentenced him to one year and eight months in prison, but Dicle appealed the verdict. The Supreme Court of Appeals' Criminal Department upheld Dicle's prison term in March 2011.

The article says, "the YSK shall execute all the functions to ensure the fair and orderly conduct of the elections from the beginning to the end of polling, carry out investigations and take final decisions on all irregularities, complaints and objections concerning the elections during and after the polling, and verify the election returns of the members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. No appeal shall be made to any authority against the decisions of the YSK."

AA