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Protests in Istanbul as immunity is stripped from Kurdish lawmakers

The Turkish government removed immunity from nearly 140 opposition legislators, declaring them connected to Kurdish rebels.

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Osman Orsal/Reuters
Pro-Kurdish demonstrators in Istanbul on Sunday.
  • By Dominique Soguel Associated Press

More than 1,000 people attended a rally of a pro-Kurdish, opposition party in Istanbul on Sunday to protest against the abolition of immunity of some Turkish members of parliament.

Last month, Turkey's parliament approved amendments to the constitution that clear the way for the prosecution of nearly 140 legislators, many of them from the People's Democratic Party, or HDP.

"In the coming days our trial is going to start," HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas said. "We aren't afraid to be on trial, but it is our right to expect to be judged by a real judicial authority. Is there something like that? There is not."

The amendment was proposed by the ruling Justice and Development Party after Turkey's president accused the HDP of being an arm of outlawed Kurdish rebels and demanded their prosecution on terror-related charges.

Demirtas said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was still seeking revenge for HDP's electoral win in June last year, when the party secured enough votes to enter parliament.

"This is why he is using the tanks, panzers, and cannons in a merciless way against the crowds," he said in reference to a series of large-scale security operations in southeast Turkey.

The Turkish state has been locked in renewed conflict with Kurdish fighters since last summer when a 2 ½-year truce with the PKK collapsed. Kurdish rebels have set up trenches, barricades and explosives to keep the authorities out of areas where they want autonomy.

Turkey and its Western allies consider the PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state in a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, a terrorist organization.

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