Turkish Parliamentary Body Approves Bill to Lift MPs Immunity

Local Editor

A Turkish parliamentary commission approved a controversial bill to strip lawmakers of immunity from prosecution, paving the way for a law that critics say is aimed at targeting Kurds and dissidents.

Representatives from the ruling AK, CHP and nationalist MHP parties approved the legislation late Monday amid the absence of pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party [HDP] deputies.

The AK party had submitted the draft proposal to the Turkish Parliamentary Constitutional Committee on April 12, and 316 lawmakers from the governing social conservative political party had signed it before submission.

The legislators pushed each other, squared up and traded kicks and punches. They also threw water bottles at each other. The brawl prompted HDP representatives to withdraw.

Hours earlier, when the committee debated the draft law, a brawl broke out between AK and HDP members.

The bill will be put to vote after a debate in the Turkish parliament's general.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for the prosecution of HDP members, accusing them of being affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers' Party [PKK].

Turkey has been taking tough on Kurdish forces in the country's southeast, with military and police claiming that they have killed hundreds of PKK members.

Senior HDP figures had repeatedly challenged the figures, saying many of those killed in the crackdown had been civilians.

Turkish lawmakers are immune from prosecution while in office. The police can file "dossiers" against politicians, which can lead to a legal process once they cease to be members of parliament.

At least two Turkish soldiers and five PKK militants were killed in fresh clashes in the southeastern province of Hakkari on Monday.

The deadly fighting broke out after PKK forces stormed a military post in the Semdinli district of Hakkari, the Turkish army said.

Turkish warplanes also hit targets belonging to PKK in northern Iraq on Monday evening, killing 18 fighters, military sources said.

They said the warplanes struck targets in the Qandil Mountains, where the PKK leadership is based.

Thousands of fighters and hundreds of army troops had been killed after the collapse of a ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish government last July.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team