The Ministry of Justice of Turkey has sent a petition to the chairmanship of the country’s parliament, with a request that several MPs be stripped of their parliamentary immunity.

In this connection, the ministry noted also the name of Garo Paylan, Istanbul Armenian MP of the opposition pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), stressing that he had “obstructed” the judge from carrying out his duty during the court trial on March 25, 2016, into the case of journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, and had violated the secrecy of the proceedings, according to T24.com news website of Turkey. 

In turn, Paylan stated that he had submitted a petition at the court and that this is why the court was attempting to strip him of his parliamentary immunity, whereas all petitions made on behalf of the president are accepted.  

“This is a concocted case against me,” added the Armenian MP. “With such concocted cases, they stripped primarily the opposition MPs of immunity.”