The Turkish government has submitted a motion to Parliament seeking the removal of legislative immunity for five lawmakers, the Stockholm Center for Freedom reported, citing the Artı Gerçek news website.
The lawmakers named in the motion are pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy and Equality party (DEM Party) representatives Cengiz Çandar, Sabahat Erdoğan Sarıtaş and Salihe Aydeniz as well as Burak Akburak, from the nationalist opposition Good Party (İYİ Party) and independent deputy Yüksel Arslan.
The submission by the president’s office is a formal request to Parliament to consider revoking the immunity that protects lawmakers from prosecution. If approved, the process could pave the way for legal proceedings against the five legislators.
Details of the allegations prompting the requests have not been disclosed. Parliament is expected to review the files in the coming days, following standard legislative procedures.
The potential lifting of parliamentary immunity has been a contentious issue in Turkish politics, often sparking debates about judicial independence and political motivations. The legislative immunity provision is designed to shield lawmakers from prosecution during their term, ensuring they can perform their duties without interference. The mechanism to remove immunity has been criticized for allegedly being used to target opposition lawmakers.
Such motions have disproportionately affected pro-Kurdish parties in the past, with one of the most influential figures of the Kurdish political movement, Selahattin Demirtaş, still behind bars for what are widely seen as politically motivated charges. In 2018, Demirtaş had to run his presidential campaign from prison and yet received 9.76 percent of the vote.