Any MP’s conviction a sad event, Çiçek says

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

‘As the parliamentary speaker, I am not happy to see any deputy convicted, let me say this up front. But we all have to act in a more responsible manner,’ Cemil Çiçek says.

‘As the parliamentary speaker, I am not happy to see any deputy convicted, let me say this up front. But we all have to act in a more responsible manner,’ Cemil Çiçek says.

Parliamentary Speaker Cemil Çiçek has said he does not want to see any Turkish parliamentarian convicted of any crimes in the wake of a court ruling convicting deputy Sebahat Tuncel of being a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“The judicial process is continuing. We wish that no such problems were experienced in our country, but wishing is something and the reality of life is something else,” Çiçek told reporters in response to questions on the court’s Sept. 18 ruling.

Prison sentence

Tuncel, an MP for the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), was given a prison sentence of eight years and nine months and banned from leaving the country for the crime of being a PKK member.
Çiçek’s remarks came as he attended the opening of a conference called “Making a Constitution in the Era of Transition to Democracy,” arranged by the Ankara-based Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV).

When asked how he assessed a deputy being charged with a terror crime, Çiçek said: “You asked the question from a very wrong place. You framed the equation incorrectly, too. No one has the freedom to commit crimes in this country. All of us have to show respect the law. As the parliamentary speaker, I am not happy to see any deputy convicted, let me say this up front. But we all have to act in a more responsible manner.”

Last week, in the ongoing debate over the lifting of the immunities of some BDP lawmakers, Çiçek said the issue was a sensitive and political topic. Although he refrained from making an official comment on the issue, he said he would send cases to the relevant commissions once they have been sent from the Prime Minister’s Office.

“The parties will decide how to proceed with these cases at the commission,” he said.