ODIHR Director Link and OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Kanerva express concerns over vote by Turkish parliament to strip certain deputies of immunity

WARSAW/COPENHAGEN, 24 May 2016 – In a joint statement, Ilkka Kanerva, President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, and Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, expressed concern today over a constitutional amendment passed by the Turkish parliament stripping certain members of their immunity from prosecution.

“The lifting of the parliamentary immunity, conceived as a guarantee for MPs to act freely and without fear of harassment from the executive and the judiciary, risks weakening the separation of powers in Turkey, undermining the accountability and pluralism of parliamentary life in the country,” said President Kanerva. 

“Turkey, together with the other 56 OSCE participating States, has committed to promote political pluralism and to provide political parties and organizations with the necessary legal guarantees to enable them to compete with each other on a basis of equal treatment before the law and by the authorities,” Director Link said. “We call on the Turkish authorities today to uphold these commitments.”

The contentious amendment was proposed following a call by the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for the prosecution of members of the Kurdish People’s Democratic Party for their alleged ties with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on terrorism-related and other charges.