Erdogan pleads to strip citizenship from supporters of terrorism

Turkey should consider stripping citizenship from supporters of terrorism, President Erdogan said on Tuesday, adding that the government had "nothing to discuss with terrorists."

His comments came in a speech to a group of lawyers in the capital, Ankara.

"We need to be decisive to take all the necessary measures including stripping of citizenship for terror organisation supporters," President Erdogan said.

"This state has nothing to discuss with terrorists. That business is over."

Erdogan did not specify who he was targeting with the comments. In the past he said that those Turkey accuses of supporting terrorism - whether they are journalists or aid workers - are no different from terrorists themselves.

PKK terrorist group abandoned a two-year ceasefire in July, reigniting a conflict that has claimed more than 40,000 lives since 1984. The PKK is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

He also said on Tuesday that parliament should "immediately" act to strip parliamentarians of their legal immunity from prosecution.

On March 19, the Turkish parliament received the official appeal that seeks to lift the legislative immunity of the co-chairs of the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party's (HDP), along that of three other deputies.

Prime Ministry Office submitted a motion to lift the parliamentary immunity of HDP Co-Chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag and of party deputies Selma Irmak, Sirri Sureyya Onder and Ertugrul Kurkcu.

The prosecutor's office summary was sent to the Justice Ministry last month with a request that the immunity of the HDP deputies be lifted, so they can face charges of "openly instigating people to hatred and hostility" and "being a member of an armed terrorist organisation."