Turkish parliament directly approves lifting MPs immunity from prosecution

Members of the Turkish parliament approved a bill to make a temporary constitutional change which would remove some lawmakers' immunity from prosecution and facing trials at the final round of voting on Friday, Daily Sabah reported. 

The bill will be presented to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for final approval, without holding a referendum as 367 votes threshold was passed.

In the final voting of the second round of discussions on the bill, 376 deputies out of the total 550 approved the bill, 140 voted against, 5 abstained, 7 votes declared invalid and 3 empty votes were counted.

The first clause of the bill on removing MP immunity passed with 373 votes, 138 voting against the bill, 8 abstained, 3 votes declared invalid and 9 empty votes were counted. 

The second clause ended with 374 deputies voting for, 136 voting against, 4 abstaining, 11 empty and 1 invalid.

The clause could remove protection from prosecution of 138 members of the Grand National Assembly's 550 deputies. 

The targeted lawmakers, who come from all four parliamentary parties, have had a total of 667 criminal proceedings lodged against them. 

The main aim of the bill is to prosecute deputies with links to terror, especially to PKK terror organization.

Source: MENA