Warrant for HDP deputy Semra Güzel

Güzel was stripped of her legislative immunity over her photos with a PKK member.

İstanbul

A penal judgeship of peace in the capital city of Ankara issued a warrant yesterday (March 24) for Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Semra Güzel.

Güzel is under investigation for "being a member of a terrorist organization" over her photos with a member of a Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

After the photos surfaced in February, the parliament lifted her legislative immunity by a majority vote at the start of March.

After she lost her immunity, a summary of proceedings against her was sent to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, which launched an investigation into the politician.

The warrant was issued after Güzel did not testify to the prosecutors within due time.

What happened?

The pictures of HDP Diyarbakır MP Semra Güzel with Volkan Bora, who was killed in an airstrike of the Turkish Armed Forces in 2017, have recently been revealed. Semra Güzel has said that Bora was his "fiance" and the picture was "taken during the resolution process".

After the pictures were published and broadcasted by pro-government media outlets, AKP Chair and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, "We have swiftly sent this to the joint commission. The necessary will be done. We don't want to see such people at the Parliament."

Saying that she was not affiliated with any political party when the pictures were taken, Güzel has asked why no investigation has been launched so far into the pictures found on Volkan Bora. She has argued that the pictures taken 5 years ago are used as a "plot" against her.

A summary of proceedings has been issued against Güzel to lift her legislative immunity and sent to the Joint Parliamentary Commission.

Before the Joint Commission convened on January 20, 2022, İYİ Party Chair Meral Akşener and main opposition CHP Parliamentary Group Deputy Chair Özgür Özel announced that they would vote in favor of the summary of proceedings against Semra Güzel.

The Drafting Commission, a sub-commission of the Parliamentary Joint Commission established to review the summaries of proceedings against Semra Güzel, issued a report and expressed an opinion in favor of lifting the legislative immunity of the HDP MP.

The legislative immunity of HDP Diyarbakır MP Semra Güzel was lifted in a vote taken at the General Assembly of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) on March 1, 2022.

(VK)