BY MUSTAFA ERDOGAN
STAR- Parliamentary immunity provides parliamentarians with full freedom of expression in their duties. The need for this is very clear, because one cannot represent a nation without freedom of speech. Speech limitations on our representatives would mean certain issues facing the nation would be covered up or never mentioned. And this would cut off the possibility of both informed decisions on vital issues and well-executed actions to address these issues.
Obviously, freedom of expression is necessary for everybody, but whatever the general state of this freedom, there should be full freedom of speech in Parliament. So this exception, which benefits our parliamentary deputies, shouldn't be considered a privilege contrary to equality under the law. This distinction isn't arbitrary, but a democratic obligation so that the nation can be represented and sound public policy formulated.
As long as deputies remain deputies, immunity protects them from criminal prosecution and procedures such as arrest. Its goal is to ensure the ability of deputies (and especially those in the opposition) to carry out their duties without feeling government pressure. In principle, it's not wrong for deputies to have this guarantee or safeguard. So this shouldn't be considered a privilege either.
This exemption for deputies is both wide and narrow. It's wide, because what's necessary for a deputy's political safety isn't exemption from standing trial, but from such procedures as arrest, where force is necessary, which would prevent deputies from carrying out their duties. This is enough to protect the nation's representatives.
On the other hand, immunity doesn't cover charges for crimes covered under Article 14 of the Constitution, provided they were filed before the elections which brought the deputy in question to power. But it's not clear what sorts of crimes are covered by this article, and in fact the article is subject to politics, so this exception to immunity is dangerous.
Immunity is more necessary for Turkey than in the West, because in our country, deputies must be protected from abuses of the political plurality and the state. Recent experience shows that protecting deputies from the state is indispensable and a quite necessary safeguard for democracy. But the scope of immunity should be limited to being exempt from procedures such as arrest, and the exceptions under Article 14 should be done away with.