Turkish lawmakers got into a fist fight on Friday during a heated debate over an opposition lawmaker currently jailed on charges widely believed to be politically motivated.
Video footage showed lawmakers from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AKP trying to punch Ahmet Cik, a lawmaker from the same party as the jailed lawmakers, at the podium after he had just called the ruling party lawmakers a “terrorist organization.”
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“I am not surprised that you call Can Atalay a terrorist, just like you call everyone who is not on your side,” Sik told AKP lawmakers in a speech, according to Reuters.
“But the biggest terrorists are the people sitting in these seats,” he added.
Dozens of lawmakers joined the melee, some trying to stop others. A female lawmaker was beaten in the chaos, leaving blood droplets on the white steps leading to the speaker’s podium. Another opposition lawmaker was reportedly injured.
“It’s a shameful situation,” said Ozgur Ozer, leader of the main opposition party. “Instead of words, fists are flying, there is blood on the ground. Women are being beaten.”
Gulistan Koçgit, chairman of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Party group, who was also beaten, said the ruling party was trying to use violence to silence the opposition.
“It is clear that they came very well prepared and planned. They are trying to silence our speech and our voices through pressure, violence and force,” Koccigit said, according to Reuters.
Physical altercations are not uncommon Among Turkish lawmakers.
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An extraordinary session of Turkey’s Grand National Assembly was convened to discuss the case of Can Atalay, who was elected from prison as a member of parliament for the Turkish Workers’ Party (TIP) in last year’s elections.
The previous year he was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in the 2013 anti-government protests that challenged the rule of Erdogan, who was then Turkish prime minister.
Since his election, Atalay has been fighting for a seat in parliament, which would grant him immunity from prosecution and release him from Marmara Prison, though he has said he will return to prison at the end of his term.
Although they won a victory at the Constitutional Court, their case has been ignored by lower courts, sparking a judicial crisis and fuelling feelings of injustice among their supporters.
On August 1, the Constitutional Court ruled in Atalay’s favor for a third time, saying the decision to strip him of his parliamentary seat was “null and void.”
The opposition then demanded a special meeting to discuss the incident.
Chagla Gurdogan/Reuters
The conviction of Atalay and seven other defendants in the Gezi Park case drew widespread criticism from human rights groups and lawyers.
The main defendant, philanthropist Osman Kavala, was sentenced to life in prison and has twice challenged his release by the European Court of Human Rights, which said his detention was arbitrary and politically motivated.
The Gezi Park protests began as environmental protests to block development of a park in central Istanbul in the summer of 2013. Discontent quickly spread to other cities as people protested Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian rule.
“Mr Atalay’s personal freedom and security, as well as his right to run for office, which the Constitutional Court found to have been violated, should be restored,” Amnesty International Turkey said in a social media post on Friday.
Parliament resumed three hours later and both Sikh and the attacker were reprimanded by the Speaker.
