Süleyman Soylu files for 'immunity' waiver

Süleyman Soylu, Chairman of the TBMM Interior Commission and AKP Istanbul Deputy, has applied to the Speaker of the Parliament to have his legislative immunity lifted.

Soylu submitted a petition to the TBMM Speaker's Office on Friday, July 26, requesting the removal of his legislative immunity.

Asserting that he has a responsibility to serve the nation, be accountable, and remain transparent in every role he has undertaken, Soylu claimed that the political institution and those involved in politics face various allegations and accusations from time to time.

Soylu stated, "Under the roof of our Ghazi Parliament, of which I am honored to be a member, while performing my duties as a deputy and serving our nation, we have been faced with numerous baseless, entirely slanderous, manipulative, and organized, systematic smears—many produced by similar circles—that target our governments, the period during which I served as Minister of Interior, myself, and the colleagues with whom I served, and which seek to trample our state's reputation underfoot, originating from both domestic and foreign sources."

"WE HAVE FACED A SMEAR CAMPAIGN"

Arguing that it has become necessary to fight on legal grounds against malicious circles that aim to create doubt, suspicion, and question marks in the eyes of the nation with their smears and slanders, Soylu continued his petition as follows:

"Our nation has witnessed our determination to ensure the peace, prosperity, and the highest level of public order, security, and well-being of our nation, and to fight continuously and uncompromisingly against all criminal networks—especially terrorism, illegal migration, disasters, drugs, and organized crime groups—without any discrimination, from the day we were appointed to the Ministry of Interior by our President until the end of our term. However, subsequently, in order to undermine this struggle, discredit it, and intimidate anyone who might dedicate themselves to this struggle in the future, we have faced a smear campaign involving all kinds of written, visual, social media, and other media outlets, filled with lies, slander, and qualified defamation, in an organized and systematic manner rarely seen before, aimed at misinforming the public."

Stating that in the year since he left the Ministry of Interior on June 3, 2023, there have been 11 thousand 500 television news reports, 1 thousand 454 newspaper reports, 628 columns and articles, and 218 thousand internet and social media reports containing lies, insults, smears, and slander against him, Soylu said, "Despite the fact that there are no summary proceedings against me in the TBMM regarding my term in office, CHP chairmen and spokespersons have repeatedly claimed on various dates that I am protected by the shield of immunity through baseless smears and slanders, thereby deliberately misleading the public. Furthermore, CHP chairmen and spokespersons are conducting a simultaneous campaign before the eyes of our nation against the period I served and against me, while failing to do, say, or even attempt to say what they should against the PKK terrorist organization, which has threatened the indivisible integrity of our country for years, and its representatives in Parliament with whom they maintain political unity and consensus, as well as against FETÖ and DHKP-C."

Soylu noted the following:

"Naturally, my commitment to democracy and the law, my loyalty to my state, my responsibility to our nation, and my respect for the will of our Ghazi Parliament; my belief in the truth of every moment of the duties we performed and the struggles we waged have made it necessary to file this application for the lifting of my legislative immunity. In the face of the smear, slander, and discrediting campaigns conducted against me regarding the periods I was in office, I request the necessary action for the lifting of my legislative immunity within the framework of the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey and the relevant articles of the TBMM Rules of Procedure, for the sake of justice and the manifestation of the truth."