The parliament voted with a majority on Thursday, January 11, to eject Zana from legislature due to her continued absence since November 2015.

“Leyla Zana being stripped of her lawmaker status is void before our people,” the HDP said in a tweet following the decision. “Leyla Zana is the sound of peace, the will of the people, our member of parliament.”

Lawmaker Zana had spoken Kurdish while being sworn into parliament in November 2015, leading the speaker to rule her oath invalid. Speaking Kurdish was banned in Turkey after the 1980 military coup until 1991, reports Reuters.

Zana did not attend 212 sessions of the parliament between October 1, 2016 and April 30, 2017.

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