Global Europe

New Turkish bill denounced as power grab

Turkey’s parliament today (20 May) adopted a highly divisive bill that will lift immunity for dozens of pro-Kurdish and other MPs and could see them thrown out of parliament.

Turkey flags

Supporters of the AK Party wave Turkish national and party flags. Antalya, June 2015. [Reuters]

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Positions

In a statement, the Party of European Socialists (PES) called unacceptable the latest move by the ruling AKP party to strip the MPs in the Turkish Parliament off their immunity. We consider the newly approved suspension of article 83 of the Turkish Constitution as another attempt to crack down on the opposition.

PES President Sergei Stanishev stated: “Lifting the immunity of democratically elected representatives of the people is one more step of the Turkish government towards silencing the opposition. It is illegal, unconstitutional and unacceptable in any functioning democracy. Today Turkey moves further than ever from EU accession and flagrantly breaking the clause on civil rights and democracy of the EU-Turkey agreement.”

He added :

“We know very well from past experience that the Members of Parliament have been massively targeted by Turkish prosecutors under the protection of the ruling AKP party. This law will undoubtedly have a negative impact on the ability of the MPs to criticise the government.”

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Further Reading

Updated: 29-09-2024

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