What’s behind Turkey’s bill of immunity

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly been calling for the prosecution of the mainly Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) members of the parliament, accusing them of acting as a political wing of the outlawed terrorist organisation, Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

More than 40,000 Turks and Kurds have been killed since the conflict between Turkey’s military and the PKK began in 1984. Erdogan was the first leader to lead a bold process of reconciliation that ceased the fire for more than three years and saved the lives of innocent Turks and Kurds.

Under the rule of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and for the first time in Turkish history, a pro-Kurdish party succeeded to enter the Turkish Parliament as a party after gaining 13 percent of all votes in elections on June 7, 2015.

The end of the ‘peace process’

Last year’s terrorist attack in the Turkish Suruc province that killed at least 30 people and wounded more than 100 was the dramatic turning point of the Turkish-Kurdish peace process.

Promptly after the explosion, a snowball of attacks and government backlashes led to hundreds dead, thousands of casualties and cities and towns of debris and ruins as the ceasefire between Ankara and the outlawed PKK fell apart. The so-called peace process was on hold, and the military escalation dominated the scene.

Read More- al Jazeera

Image courtesy of Reuters