European Forum

Turkish opposition leader may face immunity cut

On 10 January the public prosecutor in Istanbul announced that the main opposition leader of the Republican People´s Party (CHP) Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu may be stripped of parliamentary immunity so that he can face charges of influencing a fair trial and insulting public servants on duty. Public Prosecutor Ali İşgören sent an official note to the Justice Ministry to initiate the process filing a case against the CHP leader. Before the CHP chief could stand trial, the justice minister will need to approve the request and send it to Parliament to be put to a vote.

The charges against Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu are based on comments he made after a visit to the Silivri Prison, where suspects in the Ergenekon coup case are being held, on 9 November 2011. After visiting two CHP jailed deputies Kılıçdaroğlu compared the Silivri Prison to a ‘concentration camp’, also he stated that he could not bear to call the members of the court ‘judges’. “They call this democracy and justice. Can you call him a judge, a judge who does not act with his conscience?” Kılıçdaroğlu said, adding that the judicial system in Turkey was “under the control of the political authority.” The prosecutor’s office acted on the statements Kılıçdaroğlu made, and started an investigation into his remarks. The prosecutor has requested the removal of the CHP leader’s parliamentary immunity, if the Ministry of Justice agrees an indictment can be filed against him and he may face trial.

An advanced democracy
According to CHP deputy chair Birgül Ayman Güler the prosecutor’s move is another government-backed attempt to silence the opposition and challenge the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to lift Kılıçdaroğlu’s parliamentary immunity so that he can stand trial. Güler stated that: “It seems that the AKP government, which has silenced the universities and politicized the judiciary, is now targeting the main opposition, which is resisting those dictatorial practices.” The CHP deputy chair also said that: “The AKP is the party which calls dictatorship ‘an advanced democracy.’ No one in Turkey is safe any longer.”

Kılıçdaroğlu reacted strongly to the charges, and stated he will ask Parliament to strip him of his parliamentary immunity as he does not need it after the investigation the prosecutor launched. Kılıçdaroğlu also accused the government of limiting freedom of speech in Turkey.

However, Mehmet Durakoğlu, the vice-president of the Istanbul Bar Association, said the main opposition leader’s statement could not be perceived as an attempt to affect a fair trial. According to Durakoğlu “The ones who have the power in their hands, like the ruling party, may affect a fair trial, not the opposition leader.” “The suspects in Silivri Prison are still being tried, which means they are presumed innocent. Kılıçdaroğlu’s speech defended the suspects’ innocence. If it were the opposite of the situation, then we could claim that he was trying to influence the court.”

Sources: Business Turkey Today, Hurriyet Daily News, News.Az, Today's Zaman
Image: rapidacid