Türkiye: At least two MPs injured in fight in parliament

At least two lawmakers were injured in a fight that broke out in the Turkish parliament on Friday, August 16, during a session devoted to a jailed opposition lawmaker.

The fight broke out when a lawmaker from the ruling Islamist-conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP), Alpay Ozalan, punched opposition lawmaker Ahmet Sik after the latter criticized the government over detained lawmaker Can Atalay. Other lawmakers then intervened, sparking a brawl among dozens of members of parliament that lasted nearly half an hour.

At least two opposition MPs, a member of the Republican People's Party (CHP, secular centre-left) and a member of the People's Equality and Democracy Party (DEM, pro-Kurdish) were slightly injured after being hit in the eyes. Other AKP MPs hit opposition MP Ahmet Sik after he fell to the ground, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist at the scene saw. Drops of blood spattered the ground, AFP added.

“I am ashamed to have witnessed this situation. I call on the Speaker of Parliament to immediately call the group leaders of all political parties to a meeting.”reacted the leader of the CHP, the main opposition party, Özgür Özel.

“AKP MPs, who do not recognize the law and do not implement the decisions of the Constitutional Court, are turning the parliament into an arena of violence, again knowing no limits in their vandalism. We strongly condemn this aggression.”reacted, for its part, the pro-Kurdish DEM party.

Parliamentary session suspended

The parliamentary session, during which the decision of the Constitutional Court on the restitution of Can Atalay's mandate was to be examined, has been suspended.

Elected in May 2023 from his prison cell, Mr. Atalay was stripped of his parliamentary mandate in January. The lawyer, elected under the banner of the Workers' Party of Turkey (TIP, left), was sentenced in April 2022 to eighteen years in prison, accused of having sought, with the philanthropist Osman Kavala, sentenced to life in prison, to overthrow the government in 2013 through an unprecedented wave of protests.

The deputy from the southern province of Hatay, who rejects these accusations, has been at the heart of a legal battle between two of the country's highest courts for several months.

The Constitutional Court has twice ordered the release of the 47-year-old elected official, arguing that his right to ” freedom “ and to the “personal security”as well as that of being “elected and to carry out political activities”had been “raped”.

The Constitutional Court's opinions, issued in October 2023, were challenged by the Court of Cassation. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan then sided with the latter, accusing the Constitutional Court of:“accumulating errors”.