{"id":141017,"date":"2026-08-05T19:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T19:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/141017\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T19:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T19:24:12","slug":"turkish-prosecutors-seek-to-lift-opposition-leaders-immunity-over-bribery-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/141017\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkish prosecutors seek to lift opposition leader\u2019s immunity over bribery allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Turkish prosecutors have asked parliament to lift the immunity of New Party leader \u00d6zg\u00fcr \u00d6zel and lawmaker Veli A\u011fbaba over allegations that they accepted bribes on multiple occasions while they were senior members of the main opposition Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP), Turkish Minute<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office said it had sent two case summaries to the Justice Ministry requesting authorization to prosecute \u00d6zel, a lawmaker from Manisa, and A\u011fbaba, who represents Malatya.<\/p>\n

Both are accused of repeatedly accepting bribes, an offense covered by Article 252 of the Turkish Penal Code.<\/p>\n

The prosecutors\u2019 request does not automatically remove their immunity. It must pass through several stages before parliament can decide whether the two lawmakers can be prosecuted while in office.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege that \u00d6zel used his influence as CHP chairman to secure the renomination of Antalya Mayor Muhittin B\u00f6cek in the March 2024 local elections in return for benefits provided by B\u00f6cek and his son, Mustafa G\u00f6khan B\u00f6cek.<\/p>\n

The alleged benefits were provided directly to \u00d6zel or through A\u011fbaba on several occasions, according to the prosecutor\u2019s office. No details were given about the nature or value of the alleged payments.<\/p>\n

\u00d6zel is also accused of receiving financial benefits from U\u015fak Mayor \u00d6zkan Yal\u0131m in connection with the CHP congress held on November 4 and 5, 2023, when \u00d6zel defeated longtime chairman Kemal K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu to become party leader.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors separately allege that A\u011fbaba, acting on \u00d6zel\u2019s instructions, received benefits from B\u00f6cek\u2019s son during the process that led to the Antalya mayor\u2019s renomination.<\/p>\n

A\u011fbaba is also accused of using his influence over the mayor of Ankara\u2019s \u00c7ankaya district to have a waste collection contract awarded through a negotiated procedure to a company he favored.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors further allege that A\u011fbaba collected money from municipal officials and local council members in \u0130zmir and nearby provinces for use during the 2024 local election campaign.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor\u2019s office did not disclose evidence supporting the allegations in its public statement. There was no immediate public response from \u00d6zel or A\u011fbaba.<\/p>\n

The allegations concern the period when both politicians were members of the CHP. \u00d6zel established the New Party last month following a court-ordered change in the CHP leadership in May.<\/p>\n

How parliamentary immunity works<\/p>\n

Under\u00a0Article 83 of the Turkish Constitution<\/a>, lawmakers generally cannot be detained, questioned, arrested or prosecuted without parliament\u2019s approval, unless they are caught committing a serious crime or the case concerns offenses against the constitutional order and authorities began investigating before the lawmaker was elected.<\/p>\n

The protection, known as parliamentary immunity, is intended to prevent the government and prosecutors from using criminal proceedings to obstruct elected lawmakers.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors seeking to bring charges prepare a case summary requesting that immunity be lifted. The file is sent through the Justice Ministry and the presidency to parliament, where it is reviewed by a joint committee comprising members of the constitution and justice committees.<\/p>\n

The committee may recommend lifting immunity or postponing prosecution until the lawmaker\u2019s term ends. The final decision is made by the full parliament.<\/p>\n

If parliament lifts immunity, the lawmaker can be questioned, prosecuted and held in pretrial detention but does not automatically lose his or her seat. A lawmaker may challenge parliament\u2019s decision before the Constitutional Court within seven days.<\/p>\n

The Turkish parliament receives a large number of immunity requests, many of which remain pending for years. In practice, decisions to take up particular cases can depend heavily on the parliamentary majority.<\/p>\n

President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan\u2019s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its nationalist allies control enough seats to determine whether the cases against \u00d6zel and A\u011fbaba will advance.<\/p>\n

\u00d6zel\u2019s removal and the New Party<\/p>\n

\u00d6zel became CHP chairman in November 2023 and led the party to a sweeping victory in the March 2024 local elections, when it defeated the AKP in the nationwide popular vote and retained control of major cities including \u0130stanbul, Ankara and \u0130zmir.<\/p>\n

An appeals court on May 21\u00a0annulled<\/a>\u00a0the CHP congress that elected \u00d6zel, removed him and the party\u2019s executive board and reinstated K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu and his former leadership team.<\/p>\n

The court cited alleged irregularities in the congress vote. \u00d6zel and his supporters described the ruling as political interference in the affairs of the country\u2019s largest opposition party.<\/p>\n

Human Rights Watch called the decision a serious blow to democracy and the rule of law, saying it was part of an escalating campaign against the CHP.<\/p>\n

After weeks of turmoil, \u00d6zel resigned from the CHP and established the New Party in July with 90 other lawmakers including A\u011fbaba.<\/p>\n

The defections gave the New Party 91 seats, making it the largest opposition group in parliament, while reducing the CHP\u2019s representation to 44 lawmakers.<\/p>\n

Crackdown on CHP municipalities<\/p>\n

The immunity requests come amid a continuing crackdown on CHP-run municipalities following the party\u2019s gains in the 2024 local elections.<\/p>\n

Dozens of CHP mayors, municipal officials and businesspeople have been detained or arrested in investigations involving allegations of bribery, bid-rigging, embezzlement, extortion and terrorism-related offenses.<\/p>\n

The most prominent figure targeted is \u0130stanbul Mayor Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu, who has been jailed since March 2025 and faces numerous corruption charges. \u0130mamo\u011flu and his supporters deny the allegations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Turkish prosecutors have asked parliament to lift the immunity of New Party leader \u00d6zg\u00fcr \u00d6zel and lawmaker Veli…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[83],"tags":[12820,2031,425,39160,65987,26350,429,8632,28727,67568,430,431,131,132,155,67569],"class_list":["post-141017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-stockholm","tag-bribery","tag-crackdown-on-opposition","tag-democracy","tag-muhittin-bocek","tag-new-party","tag-opposition-run-municipalities","tag-oppression","tag-ozgur-ozel","tag-ozkan-yalim","tag-parliamentary-immunity","tag-republican-peoples-party-chp","tag-rule-of-law","tag-stockholm","tag-sweden","tag-turkey","tag-veli-agbaba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/117044542123298084","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}