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ANKARA, { The Shutter News – 17th Aug, 2024 } Dozens of lawmakers in Turkey’s parliament were embroiled in a minor scuffle on Friday as they debated stripping a jailed opposition deputy of his parliamentary immunity this year.
The fight lasted 30 minutes, injuring at least two lawmakers, forcing the suspension of the hearing. Deputies eventually returned for a vote that rejected an opposition move to restore lawyer and activist Ken Atalay’s parliamentary mandate.
Atale won his seat in the 2023 elections after campaigning from his prison.
The parliamentary riots erupted after Alpe Özlan, a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), attacked Ahmet Sik, a member of the left-wing Workers’ Party of Turkey (TIP), who joined the government with Atalle. The behavior was condemned.
“It is no surprise to us that you call Atle a terrorist,” he said.
“All citizens should know that the biggest terrorists in this country are those sitting on these benches,” he added, pointing to and addressing the ruling majority.
An AFP journalist in parliament said Alpe Özlan, a former footballer, walked onto the rostrum and pushed Sik to the ground.
While on the ground, AKP lawmakers punched and harassed Sik several times. Many legislators joined the fight.
Footage posted online shows the brawl and then staff cleaning bloodstains from the parliament floor. One deputy of the Republican People’s Party and one of the People’s Equality and Democracy Party suffered head injuries.
Ozgur Ozil, head of the main opposition CHP party, condemned the violence.
“I am ashamed to witness this situation,” he added.
The Speaker of the Parliament said that the two MPs will be punished for the original brawl.
Despite efforts by fellow left-wing representatives to block the proceedings, Atalle was stripped of his seat in January after an ill-tempered parliamentary session.
He is one of seven defendants sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2022 after a controversial trial in which award-winning philanthropist Usman Kavala was also sentenced to life in prison.
From prison, Atale, 48, campaigned for a parliamentary seat in the earthquake-ravaged Hata province in the May 2023 elections.
He was elected as a member of the left-wing TIP, which has three seats in parliament.
The victory sparked a legal standoff between supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and opposition leaders that pushed Turkey to the brink of a constitutional crisis last year.
Parliament’s decision in January to impeach Atale followed a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling that upheld his conviction, clearing the way for a move to end his parliamentary immunity.
But on August 1, the Constitutional Court — which reviews whether judges’ decisions comply with Turkey’s basic law — said Atalle’s removal as a member of parliament was “null and void.”
Deputies from the AKP and the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) joined forces on Friday to defeat the opposition movement.
Turkey’s parliament has previously voted to end immunity from prosecution for opposition politicians — many of them Kurds — whom the government views as “terrorists.”
