Turkish Lawmakers Throw Punches Over Ousted MP

A brawl broke out in Turkey’s parliament Friday after lawmakers discussed the fate of a jailed opposition figure controversially stripped of his parliamentary immunity earlier this year.

The lawmakers were meeting after the country’s constitutional court earlier this month struck down parliament’s decision to oust Can Atalay from his parliamentary seat.

Lawyer and rights Atalay won his seat last year after having campaigned from his prison cell.

Ahmet Sik, a fellow member of the leftist Workers’ Party of Turkey (TIP), on Friday defended Atalay against the attacks on him by ruling party lawmakers.

“It’s no surprise that you call Atalay a terrorist,” he said.

“All citizens should know that the biggest terrorists of this country are those seated on those benches,” he added, indicating the ruling majority.

That comment drew angry responses from ruling party lawmakers, prompting the chairman to call a break.

Scuffles broke out after former footballer Alpay Ozalan, a lawmaker from Erdogan’s ruling AKP party, walked to the rostrum and shoved Sik to the ground, said an AFP journalist in parliament.

Sik was then punched on the ground several times by ruling party lawmakers.

At least two opposition MPs were injured during the fistfight.

Footage posted online showed the brawl, and then staff cleaned blood stains from the parliament floor afterwards.

Ozgur Ozel, head of the main opposition CHP party, denounced the violence.

“I am ashamed to have witnessed this situation,” he added.

– Court battle –

Atalay was deprived of his seat following an ill-tempered parliamentary session in January, despite efforts by fellow leftist deputies to halt the proceedings.

He is one of seven defendants sentenced in 2022 to 18 years in prison following a controversial trial that also saw the award-winning philanthropist Osman Kavala jailed for life.

From prison, 48-year-old Atalay campaigned to be elected to parliament, running for the earthquake-ravaged Hatay province in the May 2023 general election.

He was elected as a member of the leftist TIP, which has three seats in the parliament.

However, that election win led to a legal standoff between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s supporters and opposition leaders, who pushed Turkey to the verge of a constitutional crisis last year.

Parliament’s decision in January to oust Atalay came after a ruling by the Supreme Court of appeals that upheld his conviction, clearing the way for the move to strip him of his parliamentary immunity.

But on August 1, the constitutional court — a body in charge of reviewing whether judges’ rulings comply with Turkey’s basic law — published its ruling on the case.

Atalay’s removal as a member of parliament was “null and void”, it said.

Turkey’s parliament has previously voted to lift immunity from prosecution of opposition politicians — many of them Kurds — who the government views as “terrorists”.