Roj Bash Kurdistan

Parliament in Turkey backs lifting MPs immunity from prosecution

The Turkish parliament has approved a controversial bill that will strip MPs of their immunity from prosecution.

Pro-Kurdish lawmakers say this is essentially a move to expel opposition members from parliament.

The measure is seen as targeting the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) as well as the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP).

Turkey has led an offensive against the insurgent PKK, accused of being a terrorist group.

A ceasefire ended weeks after elections in June 2015. The renewed conflict has claimed hundreds of lives on both sides, particularly in the south-east.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for pro-Kurdish MPs to face terrorism charges and this vote could be a first step towards making that happen.

The bill was backed by 376 MPs in the 550-seat legislature, which means it will become law directly without being put to a referendum, parliamentary Speaker Ismail Kahraman said.

A dangerous moment: Mark Lowen, BBC News, Istanbul

The pro-Kurdish HDP party says the government is using trumped-up charges to push their party out of parliament and allow President Erdogan to change the constitution and boost his own powers.

The government rejects that claim, saying MPs should be accountable before the law. In a country with faith in its democracy and judicial independence, that would be the accepted view.

But in Turkey there are deep misgivings about both and Mr Erdogan is seen by critics as increasingly authoritarian - hence the concerns.

If several HDP MPs are arrested, there are fears it could spark worse violence in Kurdish areas, where people could feel deprived of a voice in parliament. And so this is a dangerous moment for Turkey and a test of how far Mr Erdogan is willing to go to secure his position.

Violent scuffles marred parliamentary debates this month, with frustrated lawmakers exchanging fisticuffs and kicks.

Friday's vote was not without incident as CHP lawmakers walked out in protest.

Mr Erdogan said the vote was "historic" during a televised speech in his hometown of Rize.

"My people do not want to see guilty lawmakers in this parliament," he said as lawmakers voted.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said she would raise concerns over the state of democracy in Turkey when she met Mr Erdogan next week.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36344314

Just as I feared:

Selahattin Demirtaş put HDP and fellow MPs at risk

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Turkish parliament strips MPs of immunity in blow to Kurdish opposition

ANKARA Turkey's parliament on Friday approved stripping its members of immunity from prosecution, a move likely to see the pro-Kurdish opposition sidelined, ease President Tayyip Erdogan's path to stronger powers, and raise concern among Western allies.

Erdogan has accused the pro-Kurdish HDP, parliament's third-biggest party, of being the political wing of militants who have waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast, and wants to see them prosecuted.

The HDP denies such links and says its parliamentary presence could be all but wiped out if prosecutions go ahead.

"They will have to arrest us, take us by force. We will resort to all possible measures to challenge the decision, including taking it to the constitutional court," the party's co-leader Selahattin Demirtas told reporters outside parliament.

In the third and final vote of a secret ballot, 376 MPs in the 550-seat assembly backed the plan to lift MPs' immunity, a high enough level of support to change the constitution directly without needing to hold a referendum.

Erdogan on Friday stressed his support for the bill, which will become law once approved by him and published, paving the way for the launch of judicial proceedings.

"My nation does not want to see guilty lawmakers in this country's parliament. Above all it does not want to see those supported by the separatist terror group in parliament," he told a crowd in the Black Sea town of Rize, referring to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group.

Erdogan's opponents say the lifting of immunity is part of a strategy to push the HDP out of parliament, strengthen the ruling AK Party, and consolidate support in the assembly for the executive presidential system he has long desired.

The legislation has caused concern in Europe, which is trying to hold together a controversial deal with Turkey meant to stop illegal migration despite what many European politicians see as the country's deteriorating record on human rights.

EUROPEAN CONCERN

Responding to the decision by the Turkish parliament, which is heavily dominated by the AKP, a German government spokesman said Berlin was concerned by the increasing polarization of Turkey's domestic political debate.

Chancellor Angela Merkel would discuss the issue with Erdogan at a meeting in Istanbul on Monday, he said.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz said on Twitter the immunity move was a "blow to Turkish democracy" and that "the gulf with European norms and values is widening".

HDP co-leader Selahattin Demirtas told Reuters this month that the lifting of immunity was likely to create more violence and stifle democratic politics.

Conflict between the state and the PKK, deemed a terrorist group by Ankara, the European Union and United States, is at its most intense since the 1990s. Thousands of militants and hundreds of security force members and civilians have been killed since a 2-1/2 year ceasefire collapsed in July.

Lawmakers currently enjoy immunity from prosecution. The new law will allow prosecutors to pursue members of parliament who currently face investigation: that includes 138 deputies, of whom 101 are from the HDP and main opposition CHP.

The HDP has said an overwhelming majority of its 59 deputies could be jailed, mostly for views they have expressed.

Friday's vote came a day after Transport Minister Binali Yildirim, a close Erdogan ally, emerged as the likely new AKP leader and therefore the next prime minister.

Yildirim, seen as a champion of the presidential system Erdogan wants, will be the sole candidate to lead the AKP at a party congress on Sunday. Erdogan said on Turkish broadcaster ATV late on Thursday he planned to give Yildirim the mandate to form a new government that evening.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turke ... SKCN0YB0VC