HDP co-chair slams MHP for becoming an ‘AKP commission’

ANKARA

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The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has slammed the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) after the latter backed the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) move to lift HDP deputies’ immunities, saying it had abandoned its status as an independent party and evolved into an “AKP commission.”

“[The MHP] has stopped functioning as a political party and became a commission of the AKP,” co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş told reporters ahead of a closed-door meeting with representatives of political parties and institutions on March 5. 

“What about your [summaries of proceedings]?” Demirtaş inquired, pointing the finger at allegations of corruption and theft against AKP deputies. 

“We gave the government carte blanche multiple times and offered to limit the immunities of all 550 deputies,” he said, adding that they made a second offer to lift the immunities of all deputies against whom summaries of proceedings had been prepared.

“We will vote ‘yes;’ we will vote ‘yes’ about ourselves as well,” Demirtaş said about the HDP, which focuses on the Kurdish question.

“But if you are going to spare those who face legal procedures over theft, corruption or infamous crimes while sending our files to the parliament and threatening us with the lifting of our immunities – that is hypocritical,” he added. 

The co-chair’s remarks came after MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli’s statements at the opening of his party’s school of politics and leadership on March 5.

When asked about his views on Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s call to lift HDP deputies’ immunities, Bahçeli said the MHP would “fulfill its part” in parliament. 

“If summaries of proceedings come to the parliament and the justifications are well prepared, our preference would be to lift the immunities and enable them to be brought before court,” Bahçeli said.