Parliament processes immunity files of main opposition leader, 33 MPs
AKP deputies voting for the amendment to the Constitution on May 20, 2016.
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Summaries of proceedings regarding the legislative immunities of 34 MPs have been submitted to the Speaker's Office of the parliament after the opening of the legislative session on October 1.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, head of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), and Ümit Özdağ, who leads the far-right Victory (Zafer) Party, and Salihe Aydeniz, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Regionst"ad Party (DBP), are among the deputies who face losing immunity
The Speaker's Office passed 65 summaries of proceedings to the Joint Parliamentary Committee, which is formed by members of the Constitutional and Justice Committees.
The joint committee has the authority to bring forward any summary of proceedings regardless of the agenda.
The General Assembly o the parliament decides by a majority vote whether a deputy's immunity should be lifted.
Over 1,600 summaries
Some 317 summaries of proceedings reached the Speaker's Office in the 2021-2011 session, and over 1,600 summaries have been processed since the 2018 elections, said Parliamentary Speaker Mustafa Şentop.
Several MPs, mostly from the Kurdish issue-focused Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), have lost their legislative immunity and MP status since May 2016, when the Constitution was amended to make it easier to strip MPs of immunity.
The CHP had supported the amendment at the time, enabling the proposal to reach a supermajority, which is required to amend the Constitution.
Several senior HDP politicians, including its then-co-leaders Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, were stripped of MP status and put in prison in late 2016.
After an application by then-HDP deputy Ferhat Encü, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled on February 1 that freedom of expression of 40 HDP deputies had been violated because of the lift of their legislative immunities and trials.
The practice violated article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and Türkiye's Constitution, the European court ruled.
List of the MPs who have summaries of proceedings against them:Justice and Development Party (AKP): İsmail Ok, Abdullah Arvas Republican People's Party (CHP): Engin Özkoç, Veli Ağbaba, Ahmet Haluk Koç., Utku Çakırözer Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP): Dersim Dağ, Remziye Tosun, Semra Güzel, İmam Taşçıer, Feleknas Uca, Ayşe Acar-Başaran, Ömer Öcalan, Dirayet Dilan Taşdemir, Pero Dündar, Tayip Temel, Murat Sarısaç, Sezai Temelli, Berdan Öztürk, Habip Eksik, Kemal Bülbül, Fatma Kurtulan, Rıdvan Turan, Sait Dede, Ebru Günay, Nurettin Maçin, Alican Önlü, Hüseyin Kaçmaz, Aykut Erdoğdu Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP): Ahmet Şık Independent: Aykut Erdoğdu |
(AEK/VK)