Şik said that he submitted his resignation letter to the parliament on April 1 and the resignation became official as May 4. He said that his resignation “decision is a reflection of an individual political stance” and expressed his wish that no one should pay heed to “any conspiracy theories.”

With Şik’s resignation, the number of HDP deputies in the Turkish parliament decreased to 60, Duvar reported.

Following Şik’s announcement, the HDP issued a written statement saying: “We have worked with esteemed Ahmet Şık since the July 2018 elections together, we have labored together. His resignation decision is at his discretion. The HDP will continue to carry on its works being aware of the political and historical responsibility which falls on it.”

Şik is also an investigative journalist, the author of several books and a trade unionist.

He is most famous for his book “The Imam’s Army,” published in 2011, which exposed the infiltration of the Gulen network into police force and other civil institutions.

At the time, the book was banned by the government, as it claimed that its publication was linked to the Ergenekon group, an alleged conspiracy of secular ultra-nationalists who aimed to launch a coup in Turkey.

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