Parliamentary immunity in Turkey

Last updated

Parliamentary immunity in Turkey exists since the Turkish constitution was accepted in 1924. [1] It is meant to grant immunity to the members of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey before the judiciary and has been based on the parliamentary immunity which France has as well. [2] Parliamentary immunity can be lifted if the parliaments majority votes so. [3] The Constitutional Court was created in 1962, [4] and has the authority to ban political parties and also ban people from holding a political office, and if those are members of parliament, then they are also not protected by the parliamentary immunity. [5] The new constitution of 1982 also included a parliamentary immunity, but in the case an investigation under Art. 14 of the constitution has been initiated before the politicians election into parliament, the courts could be allowed to carry on with the proceedings. [5]

Contents

For decades, the Turkish military led establishment held a major degree of influence in the decisions of the civilian population and the political parties for decades. [6] It was worried that through the parliamentary immunity the Islamist parties would achieve to impose Islam on the political agenda or that Kurds would demand more autonomy in South East Turkey. [6]

Prominent examples

DEP lawmakers

After the oath ceremony in November 1991, during which Leyla Zana wore a headscarf in the colors yellow, green and red and ended with a Kurdish phrase, Orhan Doğan and Hatip Dicle had handkerchiefs in the same colors, proceedings against the parliamentarians began. [7] Initially protected by their parliamentary immunity, pressure amounted during the premiership of Tansu Çiller, when measures were taken to lift the parliamentary immunity in early 1994. [7] After a discussion in parliament during which the True Path Party (DYP) politician Coşkun Kırca argued that the parliamentary immunity of the pro-Kurdish politicians of the People's Labour Party (DEP) should be withdrawn as it was detrimental for the Turkish nation to continue to enable them to be included in the ""democratic process" [8] the parliamentary immunity was lifted from six DEP deputies on the 2 March 1994. [9] Following, Orhan Doğan, Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle and Selim Sadak were arrested and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for membership in the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). [10] They were all released after 10 years. [11]

Mehmet Ağar and Sedat Bucak

After the Susurluk accident in 1996 in which the Turkish drug trafficker Abdullah Catli and a police chief died and the Kurdish warlord Sedat Bucak survived. Investigation into a cooperation between the Turkish government and organized called the Susurluk scandal ensued. In 1997, the prosecutor demanded to lift the parliamentary immunity from Sedat Bucak and Mehmet Ağar [12] (the Interior Minister at the time of the accident). But the court only lifted the parliamentary immunity in 1998. [13] But also after the court consented, the two had the proceedings postponed when they were re-elected. [12] Hence, proceedings against Bucak began in 2002, the year he was not elected anymore. [14] Bucak was sentenced to 1 year and 15 days imprisonment. [14] Ağar was prosecuted in 2009 when he was not re-elected to parliament. [15] In 2012 he was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment [16] but after one year imprisonment he was released on probation. [17]

Attila Kart

In 2002 the MP of the oppositional Republican People's Party (CHP) Attila Kart requested his parliamentary immunity to be lifted in order to be able to defend himself in court. [18] [19] The request was denied [18] following which he appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) where the first chamber ruled in his favor but in the Grand Chamber Kart lost to the Turkish Government. [19]

Sebahat Tuncel

In the parliamentary election of 2007, Sebahat Tuncel was a candidate for parliament of the Thousand Hopes alliance supported by the Democratic Society Party (DTP) while imprisoned for terrorism related charges. [20] Upon her election she was released in order to be able to assume her seat in parliament. [21] She was subsequently re-elected several times. In May 2016 the parliament voted to withdraw her parliamentary immunity upon which she was arrested in November 2016. [22]

Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu

In March 2021, Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu had his parliamentary immunity lifted and was expelled from parliament after his sentence of 2 years and 6 months imprisonment for a tweet which included an article with a demand for peace negotiations by a member of the PKK was confirmed by the Court of Cassation. [23]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leyla Zana</span> Turkish politician

Leyla Zana is a Kurdish politician from Kurdish descent. She was imprisoned for ten years for her political activism, which was deemed by the Turkish courts to be against the unity of the country. She was awarded the 1995 Sakharov Prize by the European Parliament but was unable to collect it until her release in 2004. She was also awarded the Rafto Prize in 1994 after being recognized by the Rafto Foundation for being incarcerated for her peaceful struggle for the human rights of the Kurdish people in Turkey and the neighbouring countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Democratic Society Party</span> Political party in Turkey

The Democratic Society Party was a Kurdish nationalist political party in Turkey. The party considered itself social-democratic and had observer status in the Socialist International. It was considered to be the successor of the Democratic People's Party (DEHAP). The party was established in 2005 and succeeded in getting elected more than ninety mayors in the municipal elections of 2009. On 11 December 2009, the Constitutional Court of Turkey banned the DTP, ruling that the party has become "focal point of activities against the indivisible unity of the state, the country and the nation". The ban has been widely criticized both by groups within Turkey and by several international organizations. The party was succeeded by the Peace and Democracy Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sebahat Tuncel</span> Kurdish politician in Turkey

Sebahat Tuncel is a Turkish politician of Kurdish origin, women's rights advocate, former nurse and member of the Parliament in Turkey. She was elected a member of parliament while being in prison.

Sedat Edip Bucak is a Zaza politician and the leader of the Bucak tribe in Siverek, Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey. In the 1990s, he was a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. He survived the 1996 Susurluk car crash which led to the Susurluk scandal over links between police, politicians, the Turkish mafia and the Grey Wolves. In 2004 he was convicted of involvement in the Susurluk criminal gang, overturning a previous acquittal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Selim Sadak</span> Turkish politician

Selim Sadak, is a Turkish politician of Kurdish origin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahmet Türk</span> Turkish politician

Ahmet Türk is a Turkish politician of Kurdish origin from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). He has been a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for several terms and was elected twice as the Mayor of Mardin. He was born into a family of Kurdish clan and tribal chiefs in southeastern Turkey.

Aysel Tuğluk is a Kurdish politician from Turkey and was a founding member of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) in Turkey. Aysel Tuğluk is currently imprisoned at the Kocaeli F-Type Prison, located near Istanbul.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gültan Kışanak</span> Turkish politician

Gültan Kışanak is a Kurdish journalist, author and politician from Turkey. Kışanak was born in Elazığ in 1961. Her family is originally from Dersim. She is a former member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and Mayor of Diyarbakır. She has been imprisoned since October 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Selahattin Demirtaş</span> Kurdish politician

Selahattin Demirtaş is a politician, author and former member of the parliament of Turkey. He was co-leader of the left-wing pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), serving alongside Figen Yüksekdağ from 2014 to 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hatip Dicle</span> Turkish politician

Mehmet Hatip Dicle, is a Kurdish politician from Turkey. He was a member of the Democracy Party, the of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).

Orhan Doğan was a Kurdish human rights lawyer and politician of the Democratic Society Party.

Mehmet Elkatmış is a Justice and Development Party (AKP) politician. He was chair of the parliamentary Susurluk Commission which investigated the 1996 Susurluk scandal. He was chair of the parliamentary Human Rights Commission in 2005. He was first elected to parliament in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Selma Irmak</span> Turkish politician

Selma Irmak, is a Kurdish politician from Turkey and former MP for the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and People`s Democratic Party (HDP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey)</span> Pluralist leftist Turkish political party

The Peoples' Democratic Party, or Democratic Party of the Peoples, is a pro-minority political party in Turkey. Generally left-wing, the party places a strong emphasis on participatory and radical democracy, feminism, LGBT rights, minority rights, youth rights and egalitarianism. It is an associate member of the Party of European Socialists (PES) a consultative member of the Socialist International and a party within the Progressive Alliance (PA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ertuğrul Kürkçü</span> Turkish politician

Ertuğrul Kürkçü is a Turkish politician, socialist activist and the current Honorary President of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) as of 22 June 2014 and Honorary Associate of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) as of 8 October 2018.

Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu is a Turkish medical doctor (pulmonologist), human rights activist and an MP for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). He has dedicated his political career to fighting against the human rights violations in Turkey.

Gülser Yıldırım is a Turkish Kurd politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and former member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. In 2011, she was elected into the Turkish parliament out of prison, but had to wait until 2014 until she was allowed to assume by a Turkish court.

Musa Farisoğulları is a Kurdish politician and a member of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imprisonment of Abdullah Öcalan</span> Imprisonment of the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party in Turkey

Abdullah Öcalan has been imprisoned on İmralı Island in the Sea of Marmara since February 1999. He is serving a life sentence for violating article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code. Initially he was sentenced to death but the conviction was commuted to a life sentence in October 2002. Abdullah Öcalans imprisonment and the detention conditions are an issue that constantly causes constraints in the Turkish-Kurdish political sphere which has also an influence on the relations between Turkey and international organizations.

Abdullah Koç is a jurist and politician of Kurdish descent. He is a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey representing the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP).

References

  1. ↑ Koçan, Gürcan; Wigley, Simon (2005).p.129
  2. ↑ Koçan, Gürcan; Wigley, Simon (2005).p.124
  3. ↑ "Turkey parliament backs immunity bill - Türkiye News". Hürriyet Daily News. Retrieved 2022-10-13.
  4. ↑ Devereux, Robert (1963). "Turkey's New Constitutional Court". SAIS Review (1956-1989). 7 (2): 21–22. ISSN   0036-0775 – via JSTOR.
  5. 1 2 Koçan, Gürcan; Wigley, Simon (2005).p.130
  6. 1 2 Koçan, Gürcan; Wigley, Simon (2005). "Democracy and the Politics of Parliamentary Immunity in Turkey". New Perspectives on Turkey. 33: 122. doi:10.1017/S089663460000426X. ISSN   0896-6346 – via Cambridge University Press.
  7. 1 2 "The colours of their clothes: parliamentary deputies serve 15 years' imprisonment for expressions of Kurdish political identity" (PDF). Amnesty International . 1997. p. 3.
  8. ↑ Watts, Nicole F. (November 1999). "Allies and Enemies: Pro-Kurdish Parties in Turkish Politics, 1990–94". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 31 (4): 639–640. doi:10.1017/S0020743800057123. ISSN   1471-6380.
  9. ↑ "Ahmet Türk Arrested". Bianet . 25 November 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  10. ↑ Koçan, Gürcan; Wigley, Simon (2005).p.137
  11. ↑ "Press Release about Visit by International Organizations – HRA". Turkish Human Rights Association (in Turkish). June 2004. Retrieved 2022-10-23.
  12. 1 2 Wigley, Simon (2009). "Parliamentary Immunity in Democratizing Countries: The Case of Turkey". Human Rights Quarterly . 31 (3): 587. doi:10.1353/hrq.0.0087. ISSN   1085-794X – via Project MUSE.
  13. ↑ "Turkey Envoys May Face Charges". AP NEWS. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  14. 1 2 "Former MP Bucak Sentenced to Jail". Bianet . 14 November 2006.
  15. ↑ Korkut, Tolga (10 February 2009). "Former Interior Minister Finally in Court for "Stay Behind" Operations". Bianet .
  16. ↑ "Jail term for former minister approved in Turkey - Türkiye News". Hürriyet Daily News. Retrieved 2022-10-13.
  17. ↑ "Deep state case convict Ağar released from jail - Türkiye News". Hürriyet Daily News. Retrieved 2022-10-13.
  18. 1 2 Hardt, Sascha (2013).p.31
  19. 1 2 Yolcu, Serkan. "Parliamentary Inviolability v. Right to a fair trial: A Constitutional Analysis of the Case of Kart v. Turkey". p. 2.
  20. ↑ "Tuncel Goes From Prison to Parliament". Bianet . 24 July 2007.
  21. ↑ "Committee on the human rights of parliamentarians, Report on the mission to Turkey 24-27 February 2014" (PDF). Inter-Parliamentary Union. 2014. p. 6.
  22. ↑ "Sebahat Tuncel Detained in Front of Courthouse". Bianet . 4 November 2016.
  23. ↑ "Turkey: Arbitrary detention of Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu". OMCT. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.