URU, Alm.del - 2015-16 - Bilag 221: Brev fra formændene for Peoples’ Democratic Party (Tyrkiet)

Udenrigsudvalget 2015-16
URU Alm.del Bilag 221
Offentligt

28.04.2016

Subject: Lifting parliamentary immunities in Turkey

Ms. Pia Kjærsgaard

President of the Parliament of Denmark

Dear Ms.

Kjærsgaard,

Turkey is rapidly moving away from democracy and the rule of law due to President Erdoğan and

the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government’s increasing authoritarian policies – particularly

with respect to the Kurdish issue. At multiple platforms we have expressed grave concerns that such

antidemocratic policies are dragging the country into political violence, social polarization, and socio-

economic instability. We have also emphasized that the only way out of these circumstances is to resume

the peace process with the Kurdish movement and broaden the field of democratic politics.

Unfortunately, Turkey is moving full force in the opposite direction despite ongoing negotiations for

accession to the EU.

Turkey’s already weak parliamentary democracy is under a new totalitarian attack. President

Erdoğan and the AKP government have virtually subordinated the Turkish judiciary to the executive by

several governmental and legal interventions over the past two years. Now, a recent motion by the

government to lift legislative immunity seeks to oust political opposition from the parliament. If passed,

this motion would suspend Article 83 of the Constitution, which guarantees parliamentary immunity,

through addition of a provisional clause. Lifting parliamentary immunity with such an anti-Constitutional

move would extend Erdoğan-AKP bloc’s monopolistic grip to the legislative body.

We view this motion as a political coup attempt to completely destroy the separation of powers

by subordinating the legislative to the executive and leaving the former to the mercy of a thoroughly

politicized and biased judiciary. If successful, this coup would be a most crucial step for Erdoğan to replace

Turkey’s parliamentary democracy, which he has twice declared “de facto over,” with an absolutist

presidential system in which the legislative, executive and judiciary powers are virtually monopolized by

the President himself.

As of April 21, 2016, the summaries of court proceedings of 131 deputies had been sent to the

parliament. If the AKP’s motion passes, these deputies will lose their immunity. Of these, 26 are AKP

deputies, 51 are Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputies, 46 are Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP)

deputies, 7 are Nationalist Action Party (MHP) deputies, and 1 is an independent deputy. The AKP

government represents the mixed profile of these deputies as proof of the non-partisan intention of the

motion. This is simply a pretense.

What this motion seeks to destroy is the HDP opposition in the parliament. Despite the

antidemocratic %10 election threshold, mass arrest and imprisonment of thousands of our party

executives, members and electorate, hundreds of physical attacks on our offices, and constant

criminalization and scapegoating, the Erdoğan-AKP bloc failed to prevent us from entering the parliament

in the elections on June 7

and November 1

, 2015. Lifting our immunity is their latest move to exclude

the HDP from the parliament. In fact, in his many public statements regarding the motion, President

Erdoğan did single out HDP deputies and criminalized us as “supporters of terrorism” with groundless

accusations.

________________________________________________________________________________

Contact:

[email protected]

Web:

www.hdp.org.tr

Address:

Barbaros Mah. Tahran Cad. Büklüm Sok. No: 117 06680 Çankaya, Ankara - Turkey

Phone:

+90 312 427 17 80

Fax:

+90 312 4288957

URU, Alm.del - 2015-16 - Bilag 221: Brev fra formændene for Peoples’ Democratic Party (Tyrkiet)

The HDP is a progressive party established by Kurdish political opposition and other under-

represented ethno-religious populations, women, labor and ecologist/environmentalist groups who came

together around values of pluralist democracy, peace, justice and equality. Conceiving the repression of

Kurdish people’s cultural and political rights as a systemic problem of the monolithic nation-state

formation in Turkey, we uphold an integrated approach to the struggle for equality and freedom of all

repressed sectors of Turkey’s populace. The profile of our parliamentary group, including Kurdish, Turkish,

Armenian, Syriac, Alevite and Ezidi representatives as well as democrat Muslims, women, labor and

ecological activists, reflects clearly our democratic political commitments.

As per parliamentary immunity, we demand its Constitutional restriction to chair immunity. We

have already submitted a motion regarding this to the parliament. We believe that everybody should be

treated equally before the law. Limiting parliamentary immunity with chair immunity would guarantee

free and democratic debate in the parliament while preventing the abuse of parliamentary immunity for

unlawful advancement of personal, familial or small group interests.

Let us remind you that the revocation of parliamentary immunity and imprisonment of

Democracy Party’s (DEP) Kurdish deputies in 1994 under the pretext of “fighting terror” was both a

symptom and facilitator of one of the most violent periods of the Kurdish conflict in Turkey. In the

totalitarian turn that Turkish political system has recently taken, wherein anybody critical of the Erdoğan-

AKP bloc is labeled as a “terrorist” or “supporter of terrorism,” the closure of parliamentary

representation to political opposition will render Kurds and other marginalized peoples of Turkey even

more vulnerable to grave forms of state violence and repression. As it is, the tutelage of the executive

over the judiciary emboldened President Erdoğan to even demand revoking the citizenship of his political

critics ranging from HDP deputies and elected Kurdish mayors to journalists, pro-peace academics and

social media users. Lest the parliament is brought under the control of the executive, we suspect

Erdoğan’s next move would be to demand “a state without citizens.”

The HDP will continue its decisive struggle against authoritarian policies that the Erdoğan- AKP

bloc carries out to annihilate democratic life in Turkey. Given the injustices in court cases against

journalists, academics, elected Kurdish mayors or the citizens alleged to have “insulted the President,” we

do not expect the courts, which are under heavy control of President Erdoğan, to deliver justice to our

deputies. We will not surrender to authoritarianism and will continue our democratic struggle against all

kinds of tyrannies.

In this critical conjuncture for Turkey’s democracy and a peaceful resolution of the Kurdish

conflict, we invite all persons and institutions embracing universal democratic values to take immediate

and concrete action, strongly raise their voice, and stand in solidarity with our struggle against the

intended political coup against the parliament and the HDP.

Sincerely Yours,

Selahattin Demirtaş

HDP Co-Chair

Figen Yüksekdağ