Parliamentary Speaker says HDP's Güzel 'should be stripped of legislative immunity'

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Turkey's Parliamentary Speaker Mustafa Şentop has argued that Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP Dr. Semra Güzel should be stripped of her legislative immunity amid debates and accusations, especially coming from pro-government circles and media outlets, over her pictures that were taken before she became an MP and have recently been published.

The debates and accusations came after some pictures said to be found in the mobile phone of a member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who was killed in 2017 were published by Ceyhun Bozkurt, a reporter for Süper Haber (Super News), on social media last weekend.

In a statement yesterday (January 10), HDP MP Güzel defined the ongoing broadcasts and posts about herself on TV channels and social media platforms as a "smear and lynching campaign."

Güzel: Pictures taken in 2014

According to Güzel's statement, the full version of which was published on the official website and social media accounts of the HDP Central Office, she met Volkan Bora, who was killed in a conflict with the security forces in Adıyaman in 2017, during her university years and "they got engaged but she could not meet Bora, who had to go abroad due to the investigations and court cases against him in late 2009, until 2014."

Güzel noted that "amid the positive climate of the resolution and peace process initiated in 2013-2015", he could reach out to Bora and that was when the pictures were taken in the year 2014.

Güzel said that she had not been a member of any political party back then and she did not have any institutional relation with the HDP until 2018, when she was nominated as an MP. The MP underlined that even though the judicial bodies had had the pictures since 2017, "she did not face any investigations in a year until she was elected to the Parliament."

The MP also noted that "in 3.5 years when she has been an MP, no summary of proceedings over this file" has been submitted to the Parliament. She asked, "How come were these pictures published by a 'newspaper' instead of first being included in a summary of proceedings?"

Şentop: No file with pictures at the Parliament

Parliamentary Speaker Mustafa Şentop answered the questions of journalists yesterday and also addressed the debates about Güzel and the pictures. He said that "according to the scans carried out by then, there was no file with this document [...] it must probably be a document as part of an ongoing investigation. It has either come to the Parliament or it will do so."

'She should distance herself'

Şentop argued that "the people on duty under the roof of the Parliament should distance themselves from terrorism" in reference to HDP's Semra Güzel, who was "engaged" to Volkan Bora, who lost his life in 2017, before she became an HDP member and MP, and to the pictures that were taken in 2014. "What the by-law requires should be done," said Şentop.

How many summaries of proceedings?

As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), there were 1,336 summaries of proceedings in total pending at the Parliamentary Joint Commission in early 2021; 69 of these summaries were returned for various reasons. The files against nine people, including five HDP MPs, three Republican People's Party (CHP) MPs and one Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) MP, were taken off the agenda of the Joint Commission on the grounds that they were no longer MPs or the charges were dropped.

At that time, there were 1,267 summaries of proceedings pending at the Parliamentary Joint Commission and the number of MPs against whom a summary was issued within this context was 186. This number has gradually increased over the past year. The Parliamentary Speaker's Office has not made any recent statements about the current number.

Most summaries against HDP and CHP

The summaries of proceedings seeking to lift the legislative immunity of MPs are mostly about the opposition MPs. While the summaries of proceedings against the HDP have topped a thousand, the HDP is followed by the main opposition CHP. There are almost no summaries against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and MHP MPs.

While the accusations against the opposition are mostly about "terrorism", the ones against the ruling parties are on "electoral bans" or "corruption".

About Semra Güzel

Born in Urfa's Viranşehir in 1984, Semra Güzel graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of Harran University. She was appointed to work in the Mardin Gynecology and Pediatrics Hospital in May 2009. She started working as a family doctor in Mardin's Nusaybin in November 2010.

In September 2012, she qualified to specialize in Diyarbakır Gazi Yaşargil Training and Research Hospital's Anesthetics and Reanimation Department. She also worked for the Health and Social Service Laborers Union (SES). She was a member of the Executive Board of the Diyarbakır Medical Chamber in the capacity of a co-chair. (AEK/SD)