He is the only lawmaker yet to take the constitutional oath. Atalay was sentenced to 18 years in prison for ‘helping to attempt to overthrow the government’ under Article 312 of the Turkish Penal Code during the trial protesters in Gezi Park last year.
The Court of Appeal confirmed this decision, but the Court of Cassation has not yet ruled on the case, and there is therefore no final decision against Atalay.
Opposition parties in Parliament demanded the release of the imprisoned MP out of respect for the people’s choice and the cessation of all legal cases concerning him, given his enjoyment of parliamentary immunity which guarantees his freedom and imposes his release.
Legal position
Article 83 of the constitution defines the legislative immunity of parliamentarians, and parliamentary immunity is defined in the constitution as follows: “The execution of a criminal judgment against a member of parliament, before or after his election, is deferred until the end of his membership and the limitation period cannot be applied for the duration of his membership. »
One of Can Atalay’s lawyers said that the release of the elected deputy is not a matter of law but a legal obligation, since article 83 of the Constitution undoubtedly stipulates that a deputy cannot be kept in prison without the decision of Parliament.
established rival
Atalay will find himself in an unfair competition in the vote when he faces the candidate of the majority party, Numan Kurtulmus, vice-president of the Justice and Development Party, while the party with its allies has 322 deputies in Parliament which guarantees them an absolute majority, while the Turkish Workers’ Party has only 4 seats.
On Monday, the leader of the Parliamentary Bloc for Justice and Development, Abdullah Guler, and the deputy leader of the Parliamentary Bloc of the Nationalist Movement, Erkan Akcay, handed the request for the nomination of Kurtulmus as Speaker of Parliament to the Secretary-General. of Parliament, Mehmet Ali Kumbuzoglu.
symbolic gesture
Turkish political analyst Cevdet Yilmaz told Sky News Arabia that Atalay’s bid move is mostly symbolic and only means a protest move by the Turkish Workers’ Party to shed light on his imprisoned deputy and try to keep the case in the spotlight to exert pressure. the government to release him. .
Yilmaz added that the competition with the candidate of the Justice and Development Party is completely unfair, because the party and its allies have the parliamentary majority and are therefore able to make any candidate succeed for the presidency of the Parliament, and although Kurtulmus went to the Republican People’s Party and met with Ozgur Ozal, leader of the parliamentary bloc of the largest opposition party, and discussed with him the election of the speaker of parliament.
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