Parliamentary Joint Commission says legislative immunity of HDP’s Güzel should be lifted

* Photo: HDP / Archive

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Examining the summaries of proceedings against Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Diyarbakır MP Semra Güzel, the Parliamentary Joint Commission on Constitution and Justice has concluded by a majority of votes that the legislative immunity of the MP should be lifted. The members of the Commission from the HDP have expressed a dissenting opinion.

As Bekir Bozdağ, the former chair of the commission, has been appointed as the Minister of Justice, AKP Tokat MP Yusuf Beyazıt has been elected as the chair of the commission. He presided over the meeting where the case of HDP's Semra Güzel was debated and voted on.

After the press members took pictures and videos before the meeting, they were taken out of the hall. The HDP criticized that journalists were taken out of the room. The party also criticized the new commission chair for refusing to open a debate on the procedure.

Mehmet Rüştü Tiryaki, a member of the commission from the HDP and who was also to make defense on behalf of Güzel, talked about the party's requests regarding the debate on the bylaw and said:

"There is no provision in the regulation stipulating that the meeting shall be closed to the press. There is no such a provision in either the bylaw or in the Constitution. You cannot just shrug it off by saying that it is a long-established practice or tradition. This commission meeting is not any different from the others. It is neither superior nor inferior to them."

Noting that "the same principles are valid", Tiryaki explained: "The things work at the Joint Commission in the same way as the health commission or the commission on the ministry of national education."

'An extrajudicial execution'

In the face of HDP's objections and criticisms, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Group Deputy Chair Levent Bülbül said that the HDP did not oppose to the press being removed from the meeting hall when the summary of proceedings against the-then HDP Mardin MP Tuma Çelik was being discussed. In response to these remarks, Tiryaki answered:

"In the case of summary of proceedings brought against Tuma Çelik, there was an allegation that a woman had been sexually assaulted. We especially did not raise an objection to it, considering that it might harm the woman if these debates were debated in public.

"We considered not our own MP, but the woman to be essential. There is already an extrajudicial execution. Semra Güzel has been executed and condemned in an extrajudicial manner via the media outlets and by the MPs who are members of the commission. In fact, she has even been stripped of her MP status. Because it is said that she cannot serve as an MP."

The talks are against the law

Speaking after the defense, HDP Ağrı MP and commission member Abdullah Koç referred to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rulings and said: "To begin with, removing legislative immunities has been found unlawful. For this reason, an unlawfulness has been and is still detected in the investigations and prosecutions that have been launched."

Reminding the commission that Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ presided over the Joint Commission dated January 20, 22, Koç said:

"He expressed his opinion against our MP. As per the Article 159 of the Constitution, the Justice Minister is the second chair of the Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK). In this sense, the talks on legislative immunity are against the law in two ways. It has acquired a political meaning. One more member of the Joint Commission has lost his impartiality with his previous messages. In this sense, any action to be taken is not legally possible; the file on legislative immunity must be returned."

HDP expressed a dissenting opinion

After the talks, the report foreseeing the lifting of HDP MP Semra Güzel's legislative immunity has been accepted by the votes of the ruling AKP, MHP, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and İYİ Party MPs. The commission has decided that Güzel should be stripped of her legislative immunity. The HDP has voted against it and expressed a dissenting opinion.

What will happen now?

According to the related regulation, a report issued by the Parliamentary Joint Commission on Constitution and Justice and foreseeing the lifting of a legislative immunity is referred to the General Assembly of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM). The report is distributed to the MPs and read out and debated at the General Assembly of the Parliament.

Two MPs, one for and one against, make a speech about the report. As for the MP facing a summary of proceedings seeking to lift her legislative immunity, she can make her own defense at the Drafting Commission, Joint Commission or the General Assembly of the Parliament or shall pass this right on to another MP so that she or he can make defense on her behalf.

If there are no requests for speaking or making defense, the talks are brought to an end. Afterwards, the report is taken to open vote. The quorum of decision (151 votes) is enough to lift the immunity.

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, has issued a report and expressed an opinion in favor of lifting the legislative immunity of the HDP MP. (RT/SD)