Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has petitioned the Constitutional Court to declare null and void the stripping of a jailed lawyer who was elected an MP in May of his parliamentary status in defiance of successive rulings by the court.
Can Atalay, who represents Hatay province from the Workers Party of Turkey (TİP), had his parliamentary status revoked following a Supreme Court of Appeals decision that upheld an 18-year prison sentence against him, despite earlier Constitutional Court rulings that found his rights had been violated.
The petition, delivered by CHP group deputy chairman Gökhan Günaydın on Friday, challenges the Turkish parliament’s action against Atalay, who was stripped of his parliamentary immunity and status without a formal vote during a tumultuous session marked by protests from opposition members.
Atalay, who was kept in prison despite gaining parliamentary immunity, was expelled from parliament following a judicial crisis in which the Constitutional Court had ruled twice that his rights were violated. The 13th High Criminal Court, however, sent the case back to the Supreme Court of Appeals twice, defying the top court’s rulings. The top appeals court, which in September upheld an 18-year conviction for Atalay in the Gezi Park trial, also defied the Constitutional Court’s rulings twice, prompting Atalay’s lawyers to file their third application.
Günaydın, speaking to the press, emphasized the CHP’s stance that the removal of Atalay’s parliamentary status was illegitimate and called for the Constitutional Court’s swift intervention. “The expulsion of Can Atalay is null and void,” Günaydın said.
The 47-year-old Atalay successfully ran from prison for a seat in parliament representing Hatay province in the May general election.
The Gezi Park trial defendants were convicted of attempting to overthrow the Turkish government for their alleged role in protests that began over an urban development plan in central İstanbul and spread to other cities in Turkey.
The youth-driven demonstrations morphed into a nationwide protest against perceived corruption by the ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the growing authoritarianism of then-prime minister and current president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Erdoğan’s government violently dispersed the protests and then began to crack down on its leaders.
Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals in September upheld a life sentence for prominent businessman and civil society leader Osman Kavala and 18-year prison sentences for Atalay, journalist and film producer Çiğdem Mater, city planner Tayfun Kahraman and filmmaker Mine Özerden.