Turkish parliament strips MPs of immunity from prosecution

The Turkish parliament has approved a controversial bill to strip MPs of immunity from prosecutions, a move likely to sideline pro-Kurdish opposition and further strengthen president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s grip on power.

Erdogan has accused the pro-Kurdish HDP, parliament’s third largest party, of being the political wing of militants who have waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish south-east.

The HDP denies such links and warns that its parliamentary presence could be all but wiped out if prosecutions proceed.

“They will have to arrest us, take us by force,” the party’s co-leader Selahattin Demirtas told reporters outside parliament. “We will resort to all possible measures to challenge the decision, including taking it to the constitutional court.”

In the third and final vote of a secret ballot, 376 MPs in the 550-seat assembly backed the plan to lift MPs' immunity, a high enough level of support to directly change the constitution without needing to hold a referendum.

Hailing the law as “historic”, Erdogan told a crowd in his hometown of Rize that “my people do not want to see guilty lawmakers in parliament”.

“Above all it does not want to see those supported by the separatist terror group in parliament," he said.

The law has caused concern in Europe, at a time where the EU is trying to hold together a controversial deal with Turkey meant to stop illegal migration despite growing criticism about the country's deteriorating record on human rights.

German Chancelor Angela Merkel’s spokesperson said she would raise concerns over the state of democracy in Turkey when at a meeting with Erdogan in Istanbul next week.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz said on Twitter that the move was a "blow to Turkish democracy" and that "the gulf with European norms and values is widening".