A subcommittee to be established under the Parliamentary Justice Commission will reportedly discuss lifting the immunity of Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ in the wake of their remarks favoring the PKK terrorist organization and its activities in the southeast.

Demirtaş and Yüksekdağ have recently come under heavy fire after their controversial statements at the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) in Diyarbakır on Dec. 27, where a 14-article declaration was introduced that claimed "autonomy" in the southeastern region of Turkey.

Demirtaş delivered a speech at the DTK in which he echoed full support for autonomous Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey. "Hopefully the authorities will read this declaration one more time with calmness and see that self-rule [and] autonomy offer a very significant opportunity for all of us in terms of living together," he said.

Demirtaş's statement immediately received criticism, yet Yüksekdağ quickly came to his defense. "Self-rule is a right," Yüksekdağ said, and claimed that Demirtaş's recent statements at the DTK and the declaration that was issued following the congress were of "historical significance."