ANKARA ANKARA, Turkey (AP) Turkeys parliament on Thursday stripped three opposition party deputies of their legislative seats, setting off a raucous protest inside the assembly hall by colleagues who accused the ruling party of an assault on democracy.
Deputy speaker Sureyya Sadi Bilgic read out appeals court decisions confirming the legislators' convictions, a process that automatically leads to the deputies losing their legal immunity and parliamentary seats.
The parties deny the accusations and maintain that the cases against the legislators are politically-motivated.
The party also says the AK Party broke away with the tradition of delaying the reading of the court decisions until the end of the legislative term.
Emin Akbasoglu, a senior AK Party legislator, said the move was in line with the Turkish Constitution.