Written declaration No. 612 | Doc. 14108 | 21 June 2016

Lifting of the immunity of 138 members of the Turkish Parliament

Signatories: Mr Tiny KOX, Netherlands, UEL ; Ms Boriana ÅBERG, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Mr Tobias BILLSTRÖM, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Ms Sílvia Eloïsa BONET, Andorra, SOC ; Mr Piet De BRUYN, Belgium, NR ; Ms Elena CENTEMERO, Italy, EPP/CD ; Ms Anastasia CHRISTODOULOPOULOU, Greece, UEL ; Mr Tuur ELZINGA, Netherlands, UEL ; Ms Annette GROTH, Germany, UEL ; Mr Jonas GUNNARSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Mr Matjaž HANŽEK, Slovenia, UEL ; Ms Anette HÜBINGER, Germany, EPP/CD ; Mr Andrej HUNKO, Germany, UEL ; Ms Lotta JOHNSSON FORNARVE, Sweden, UEL ; Mr Ögmundur JÓNASSON, Iceland, UEL ; Ms Nina KASIMATI, Greece, UEL ; Ms Ioanneta KAVVADIA, Greece, UEL ; Ms Filiz KERESTECİOĞLU DEMİR, Turkey, UEL ; Mr Florian KRONBICHLER, Italy, SOC ; Mr Ertuğrul KÜRKÇÜ, Turkey, UEL ; Mr Georgios KYRITSIS, Greece, UEL ; Mr George LOUCAIDES, Cyprus, UEL ; Mr Saša MAGAZINOVIĆ, Bosnia and Herzegovina, SOC ; Ms Meritxell MATEU, Andorra, ALDE ; Mr Michele NICOLETTI, Italy, SOC ; Mr Rasmus NORDQVIST, Denmark, UEL ; Mr Pieter OMTZIGT, Netherlands, EPP/CD ; Ms Ria OOMEN-RUIJTEN, Netherlands, EPP/CD ; Mr Hişyar ÖZSOY, Turkey, UEL ; Ms Judith PALLARÉS, Andorra, ALDE ; Mr Georgios PSYCHOGIOS, Greece, UEL ; Mr António Filipe RODRIGUES, Portugal, UEL ; Mr René ROUQUET, France, SOC ; Mr Armen RUSTAMYAN, Armenia, SOC ; Mr Stefan SCHENNACH, Austria, SOC ; Ms Maria Edera SPADONI, Italy, NR ; Mr Manuel TORNARE, Switzerland, SOC ; Mr Nikolaj VILLUMSEN, Denmark, UEL ; Ms Gisela WURM, Austria, SOC

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

In accordance with Rule 54 of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, we, members of national parliaments of Council of Europe member States, are seriously worried with the recent decision of the Parliament and the President of Turkey to lift the immunity of 138 (of 550) Members of Turkish Parliament, as this lifting of immunity unacceptably reduces the possibilities of these colleagues to do their parliamentary and political work and seriously threatens many of them on short notice with long lasting imprisonment.

Amongst the parliamentarians who have seen their immunity lifted are the leaders of CHP and HDP, whereas the latter party is confronted with the lifting of the immunity of almost all MPs, who just got their parliamentary mandate of the citizens of Turkey in November 2015.

We, too, see this massive lifting of immunity as “a blow to Turkish democracy” (EP President Schulz) and as “an attempt to silence the opposition” (EU Commissioner Hahn) and as a clear disrespect of the results of the recent parliamentary elections in June and November 2015 and call upon the Parliament and the President of Turkey to reconsider their decision to lift the immunity as soon as possible.