Turkish MPs brawl during debate on jailed opposition lawmaker

Workers' Party of Turkey (TIP) lawmaker Ahmet Sik falls after AK Party lawmaker Alpay Ozalan scuffled with him as he was speaking during an extraordinary meeting of the Turkish parliament to discuss jailed opposition lawmaker Can Atalay's return to the assembly, in Ankara, Turkey August 16, 2024. /Cagla Gurdogan

ANKARA - A fistfight broke out in Turkey's parliament on Friday when an opposition deputy was attacked after calling for his colleague, jailed on charges of organising anti-government protests but since elected an MP, 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 organising 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 (TIP). Parliament stripped him of his seat, but on Aug. 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," he added.

The deputy parliament speaker declared a recess after the fistfight. Following a more than three-hour break, the session re-convened, this time chaired by the parliament speaker rather than his deputy.

In a vote, the Parliament reprimanded TIP's Sik for his statements against the AKP and AKP's Alpay Ozalan was also reprimanded for his physical assault on Sik.

The main opposition CHP leader said it was "shameful". "Lawmakers punched other lawmakers, even women. This is unacceptable," CHP leader Ozgur Ozel told reporters.

Pro Kurdish DEM Party group chairwoman Gulistan Kocyigit, who was also punched, said the ruling party was trying to silence the opposition by using violence.

"It was clear that they came very prepared and planned... They are trying to silence our speech and our voice with pressure, violence and force," Kocyigit said.

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

Brawls, though rare, are not unheard of in the 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.