Workers’ Party of Turkey (TIP) MP Ahmet Sik scuffles with ruling AK Party (AKP) MPs during an extraordinary meeting of the Turkish parliament to discuss the return of jailed opposition MP Can Atalay to the assembly, in Ankara, Turkey. | Photo: Reuters
Turkey’s parliament erupted in chaos on Friday (August 16, 2024) as lawmakers discussed the fate of a jailed opposition leader who was controversially stripped of parliamentary immunity earlier this year.
The meeting of MPs took place after the country’s Constitutional Court earlier this month annulled Parliament’s decision to remove Can Atalay from his parliamentary seat.
Mr Atalay, a lawyer and human rights activist, won his seat last year by campaigning from jail.
Ahmet Sik, a fellow member of the leftist Workers’ Party of Turkey (TIP), on Friday defended Atalay against attacks on him by ruling party lawmakers.
He added, “It’s no wonder you call Atalay a terrorist.”
Pointing to the ruling majority, he said, “All citizens should know that the biggest terrorists of this country are the people sitting on those benches.”
The remark sparked outrage from ruling party MPs, forcing the Speaker to take recess.
A source said the scuffle started when Alpay Ozalan, a former footballer and an MP from Erdogan’s ruling AKP party, rushed to the stage and pushed Sik to the ground. AFP Journalist in Parliament.
After this, the ruling party MPs punched Mr Sik several times on the ground. At least two opposition MPs were injured in this fight.
Footage posted online showed the fight and then staff cleaning up blood stains from the parliament floor.
Ozgur Ozel, head of the main opposition CHP party, condemned the violence.
“I feel ashamed to see this situation,” he said.
– Court battle –
Following a bad-tempered parliamentary session in January, Mr Atalay was denied his seat while his fellow left-wing MPs made several attempts to stall proceedings.
He is one of seven defendants who have been sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2022 following a controversial trial that also saw award-winning philanthropist Osman Kavala sentenced to life imprisonment.
Mr Atalay, 48, campaigned to be elected to parliament from prison, and is a candidate in the earthquake-ravaged Hatay province in the May 2023 general election.
He was elected as a member of the left-wing TIP, which has three seats in parliament.
But victory in that election set off a legal deadlock between supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and opposition leaders that left Turkey on the brink of a constitutional crisis last year.
Parliament’s decision to remove Atalaya from office in January followed a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling that upheld his conviction, clearing the way for his parliamentary immunity to be lifted.
But on August 1, the Constitutional Court – which is tasked with reviewing judges’ decisions to ensure they are in line with Turkey’s Basic Law – published its ruling on the case.
It said the removal of Mr Atalay from the post of Member of Parliament was “null and void”.
Turkey’s parliament previously voted to remove immunity from prosecution for opposition politicians – many of them Kurds – whom the government considers “terrorists.”