World Bulletin / News Desk

President Abdullah Gül has said Parliament will discuss a motion to divest 10 pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputies of their parliamentary immunity, but that he is against the idea to lift their immunity.

The issue of lifting immunity for several BDP deputies was reinforced after the release of a video showing BDP deputies and militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) chatting and hugging one another along a highway in the Şemdinli district of the southeastern province of Hakkari.

An investigation was launched into the incident by prosecutors, who said the meeting appeared to have been a prescheduled one, contrary to the BDP's claims that it happened spontaneously when the militants blocked a road along their route.

BDP deputies are the subject of frequent investigations by prosecutors but are immune from prosecution while they are in office, unless the assembly votes in favor of lifting their immunity. A motion was prepared by the Prime Ministry to lift the immunity of the 10 BDP deputies and was submitted to Parliament for discussion.

“The motion will reach Parliament. Parliamentary commissions will discuss it. But I had expressed my opinion during a speech I delivered in Parliament,” the president told reporters on Wednesday.

In a speech he delivered on the occasion of the new legislative year on Oct. 1, Gül was in favor of adopting a more moderate attitude on the BDP immunity controversy.

“It is important that all ideas and colors in the country are represented here. It is important that this honorable institution be all-encompassing, and that those whose views diverge from the majority find a safe place under this roof,” the president said.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he was determined to remove the parliamentary immunity of the BDP deputies following nearly 800 complaints filed against them in Parliament accusing them of having links with a terrorist organization.