Nihat Omeroglu—who was one of the eighteen judges at the Turkish Court of Appeals that upheld a shameful sentence that was handed down against Hrant Dink, the founder and chief editor of Istanbul’s Agos Armenian bilingual weekly, who was gunned down in 2007 in front of his office building—who was recently elected to the position of Turkey’s Human Rights Defender, took his Ombudsman’s oath at the parliament on Wednesday. 

The swearing-in ceremony, however, was held under protests by the parliament’s two opposition parties, Milliyet daily of Turkey reports. When Omeroglu approached the podium to take his oath, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) MPs turned their backs on him and raised signs that read “Akbudsman.” To note, “AK” symbolizes Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The Turkish parliament’s pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) MPs likewise joined CHP’s protest and hit their hands on the shutters that are placed between their seats.   

In this way, the Turkish parliamentary opposition brought attention to the fact that the members of Turkey’s institution of the Ombudsman, which is considered to be independent, either had close relations with, or used to be members in AKP, and therefore they cannot be impartial.