A parliamentary committee established to seek a peaceful resolution to Turkey’s Kurdish conflict triggered uproar after it barred invited speakers from using the Kurdish language during its fifth session on Wednesday.

Parliament speaker Numan Kurtulmus of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) told three  Kurdish women they could not speak Kurdish during the session. He cited the parliament’s internal rules pertaining to the country’s official language — Turkish — to justify his actions. Two of the women were identified as Nezahat Teke and Rabia Kiran. All are members of a group of women known as the Peace Mothers who lost children in the conflict. The group has long advocated for an end to the four-decade war pitting the Turkish army against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).  

Kurtulmus admonished Kiran when she began addressing the committee in Kurdish, prompting Teke to angrily retort that his interjection was “unjust.” The pair continued their comments in broken Turkish, according to Turkish media.

Sirri Sakik, a member of parliament for the pro-Kurdish DEM Party, took to X to air his dismay. “Today a peace mother is warned and her words interrupted because she spoke in Kurdish at the parliamentary committee. How will those who cannot tolerate a peace mother speaking in Kurdish build peace,” he fumed.