"This decision is a clear demonstration that we have faith in democracy... and that we advocate peace and not violence," said Ahmet Turk, leader of the now-defunct Democratic Society Party (DTP).

"We have decided to stay on parliamentary ground and continue making contributions for a peaceful solution of the Kurdish issue," he told reporters.

The constitutional court outlawed the DTP last week, saying it was linked to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a verdict that sparked violent Kurdish protests across the southeast that claimed two lives.

Despite the mounting unrest, the government said Thursday it remained committed to a plan to expand Kurdish freedoms in a bid to erode separatist sentiment among Kurds and end the conflict.

The DTP was left with 19 members in the 550-seat legislature after two deputies, including Turk himself, were stripped of their seats as part of the court ruling.

The lawmakers had come under pressure from both Turkish and Kurdish activists to stay in parliament to demonstrate commitment to a political solution to the Kurdish conflict.

The PKK has led a bloody 25-year insurgency in the southeast and is listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community.

And Turk said that the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, serving a life sentence on the prison island of Imrali, had also sent a message through his lawyers urging them to reconsider their resignation decision.

He said the 19 lawmakers would now join the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), a small recently founded Kurdish group, rather than sitting as independents in the legislature.

The Kurdish conflict has claimed some 45,000 lives since 1984 when the PKK took up arms against Ankara.