Physical clashes are not uncommon in the Turkish parliament. This time, lawmakers came to blows after the ruling party was labeled a “terrorist organization.”
A scuffle broke out among Turkish lawmakers on Friday during a heated debate over an opposition delegate currently jailed for what is widely seen as politically motivated accusations.
Television footage showed a lawmaker from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling party approach Ahmet Şık, a representative of the same party as the jailed lawmaker, as he spoke in the chamber’s rostrum and violently attack him. Şık had just called members of the ruling party a “terrorist organization.”
During a fight involving dozens of MPs, aA female MP was hit, leaving drops of blood on the steps leading to the speaker’s lectern. Another member of the opposition was also reportedly injured.
Physical fights are not uncommon among Turkish lawmakers.
“This is a shameful situation,” said Özgür Özel, who leads the largest opposition party. “Instead of exchanging words, fists are flying, there is blood on the ground. They are hitting women.”
Elected from behind bars
The extraordinary session of Turkey’s Grand National Assembly was called to debate the case of Can Atalay, who was elected as a member of parliament for the Workers’ Party of Turkey, or TIP, in last year’s elections – while behind bars.
He had been sentenced the previous year to 18 years in prison for his role in the 2013 anti-government protests, which challenged the rule of Erdoğan, then Turkey’s prime minister.
Since his election, Atalay has been pushing to take his seat in parliament, which gives him immunity from prosecution and would allow him to be released from Marmara Prison. He has said he will return to prison at the end of his term.
Although he obtained favourable rulings from the Constitutional Court, these were ignored by lower courts, sparking a judicial crisis and inflaming a sense of injustice among his supporters.
In its third ruling in Atalay’s favor, the Constitutional Court declared on August 1 that the decision to strip him of his parliamentary status was “null and void.”
The opposition parties then called for a special session to discuss the matter.
The conviction of Atalay and seven other defendants in the Gezi Park case has drawn widespread criticism from human rights groups and lawyers.
The main defendant, philanthropist Osman Kavala, was jailed for life without parole. The European Court of Human Rights has twice called for his release, finding that his detention was arbitrary and politically motivated.
The Gezi Park protests began in the summer of 2013 with an environmental camp aimed at preventing the development of a park in central Istanbul. The discontent quickly spread to other cities as people protested Erdoğan’s increasingly authoritarian rule.
“Atalay’s personal freedom and security, as well as his right to be elected, which the Constitutional Court found violated, must be restored,” Amnesty International’s office in Turkey said in a social media post on Friday.
The date for the resumption of the parliamentary session has not been immediately specified.
Additional sources • adaptation: Serge Duchêne
