ANKARA (Sputnik) — The Turkish parliament adopted the bill on removing lawmakers’ immunity in May. The document was supported by the AKP. The law entered into force earlier on Wednesday.
"On June 7th, 2016, [Turkish] President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan ratified the parliamentary bill to lift the legislative immunity of 138 MPs — an anti-Constitutional arrangement that specifically aims at excluding the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and its MPs from the democratic parliamentary process."
The HDP views the move as revenge for the party's victory in the parliamentary election on June 7, 2015, which prevented the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) from forming a majority, necessary to amend the constitution and make Turkey a country with presidential system.
"We suspect that Erdogan ratified the bill only after making the necessary arrangements in the judiciary so that he could control the legal process regarding the prosecution of MPs with the help of judges and prosecutors sympathetic to himself and the AKP."
