PodcastProposals to lift six HDP deputies' immunity submitted to Parliament
The Turkish Parliament has received 10 summaries of proceedings against six deputies of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), including Sezai Temelli and Pervin Buldan, the party’s co-chairs. If the Parliament votes to strip the deputies of their immunity from prosecution, they will be tried by Turkish courts.
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Turkey’s Justice Ministry has submitted to the Parliament a total of 10 summary of proceedings seeking to have legislative immunity lifted for six pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputies.
Four of the summary of proceedings prepared by the prosecutors target HDP co-chair Sezai Temelli; two target HDP Muş deputy Gülüstan Kılıç Koçyiğit; and the remaining four each target HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan, HDP Van deputy Murat Sarısaç, HDP Ağrı deputy Berdan Öztürk and HDP Mardin deputy Pero Dundar.
In November 2016, Turkish Parliament approved stripping its members of immunity from prosecution, a move that paved the way for the trials of HDP and other opposition legislators.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) accuses the HDP, the Parliament’s third-biggest party, of being the political wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is considered as a terrorist group by Ankara and its allies.
The HDP, which backs Kurdish and other minority rights, denies these accusations and has urged the government to end security operations in the southeast and to resume peace efforts.