Turkish MPs brawl during debate on jailed opposition lawmaker

ANKARA, TURKEY — A fistfight broke out in Turkey’s parliament on Friday when an opposition deputy was attacked after calling for his colleague Can Atalay, jailed on charges of organizing antigovernment protests but since elected a member of parliament, to be admitted to the assembly.

Video footage showed MPs for the ruling AKP party rushing in to punch Ahmet Sik at the lectern and dozens more joining a melee, some trying to hold others back. Blood spattered the white steps of the speaker’s podium.

Atalay was sentenced to 18 years in 2022 after being accused of trying to overthrow the government by allegedly organizing the nationwide Gezi Park protests in 2013 with philanthropist Osman Kavala, also now jailed, and six others. All deny the charges.

Despite his imprisonment, Atalay was elected to parliament in May last year to represent the Workers’ Party of Turkey, or TIP. Parliament stripped him of his seat, but on August 1 the Constitutional Court declared his exclusion null and void.

“We’re not surprised that you call Can Atalay a terrorist, just as you do everyone who does not side with you,” Sik told AKP lawmakers in a speech. “But the biggest terrorists are the ones sitting in these seats.”

The deputy parliament speaker declared a 45-minute recess after the fistfight.

The TIP also called for Atalay’s release from prison.

Brawls are not unheard-of in Turkish parliament. In June, AKP lawmakers scuffled with pro-Kurdish DEM Party MPs over the detention and replacement of a DEM Party mayor in southeast Turkey for alleged militant links.
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