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Turkey can arrest 3 ruling party MPs

Türkiye Materials 7 September 2016 16:48 (UTC +04:00)
Turkey can arrest three MPs from ruling Justice and Development Party as part of the operation against the Fethullah Gulen movement.
Turkey can arrest 3 ruling party MPs

Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 7

By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:

Turkey can arrest three MPs from ruling Justice and Development Party as part of the operation against the Fethullah Gulen movement, the Hurriyet newspaper reported Sept. 7.

Fethullah Gulen is accused of being involved in the July 15 military coup attempt in Turkey.

On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246, excluding the coup plotters, and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan also declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20.

The names of the MPs, suspected of having ties with the Gulen movement, haven’t been disclosed.

Reportedly, 48 more MPs from the ruling party are also suspected of having ties with the Gulen movement. However, the country’s authorities haven’t yet confirmed this.

According to Turkey’s law, before being arrested, MPs should be deprived of parliamentary immunity. Under Turkey’s Criminal Code, in order to initiate a criminal case, the prosecutor’s office should make an official request to the parliament, after which the parliament’s law commission deprives the MP from the parliamentary immunity.

Currently, 317 MPs are representing the Justice and Development Party in Turkey’s parliament.

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