Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stepped up his no-holds-barred offensive on Turkey’s sagging democratic traditions and institutions.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) last week introduced a bill to deprive parliamentary deputies of immunity from prosecution, which will allow the government to prosecute pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) lawmakers on charges of collusion with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which both Turkey and the United States consider a terrorist organization.

Amberin Zaman writes, “Coming on top of the collapse of a two-year cease-fire in August and a sharp escalation in violence between Turkish security forces and the PKK, the ouster of the HDP deputies would deal an additional blow to the country's fraying democracy. It would also increase political instability and deepen the chasm between Turks and Kurds, perhaps even thrusting them into the intra-ethnic conflict [HDP leader Selahattin] Demirtas recently warned against.”

On May 6, two journalists were sentenced to prison for publishing state secrets, and Can Dundar, editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet, was the target of an assassination attempt outside the courthouse. Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said, “What was really on trial was the Turkish criminal justice system, which is guilty of gross misconduct.”