Turkey Votes to Remove Parliamentary Immunity

Majority of the Turkish Parliament voted to remove parliamentary immunity (Source: Hurriyet Daily News)

ANKARA (Hurriyet)””Turkey’s parliament backed a controversial bill on May 17 that would strip dozens of deputies of their parliamentary immunity, with 348 supporting the bill in the 550-seat parliament.

Some 155 deputies voted against the measure, with the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) ”“ which focuses on the Kurdish issue ”“ claiming it is essentially a move to expel its MPs from parliament.

The number of votes approving the bill was above the number of votes needed to bring it to a referendum, 330, but below the number that would allow the bill pass without one, 367.

The bill can be taken to a referendum should the results stay above 330 and below 367 in the second and final round of voting on May 20.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has 317 seats in parliament, needs to win 367 votes in parliament ”“ a two-thirds majority ”“ to push the legislation through directly at the second-vote stage.

The first article of the proposal was accepted with 350 votes, while the second one was accepted with 357.

Several deputies from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) voted against the bill, while there were at least seven MPs that voted against it from the AKP and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which firmly stated that it would support the AKP in lifting the immunities, the results revealed.

The AKP has 317 seats in parliament and the MHP has 40 seats. The CHP claims that at least 20 deputies from their party voted for the measure, which means that more than 20 deputies voted against the bill in the AKP-MHP bloc.

According to the results, the HDP voted against the measure as a bloc, consisting of 59 deputies.

The HDP regards the issue as “the coup agenda of the ruling party,”