A fight erupted in Turkey’s parliament on Friday as members of parliament debated the fate of a detained opposition lawmaker who was controversially stripped of parliamentary immunity earlier this year.
The legislators met after the country’s constitutional court overturned parliament’s decision to remove Can Atalay from his parliamentary seat earlier this month.
Atalay, a lawyer and rights advocate, won his seat last year after campaigning from his prison cell.
On Friday, Ahmet Sik, a fellow member of the Marxist Workers’ Party of Turkey (TIP), defended Atalay against criticisms from 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 remark elicited heated reactions from governing party legislators, causing the chairman to call a break.
Scuffles erupted after former footballer Alpay Ozalan, a politician from Erdogan’s ruling AKP party, approached the rostrum and shoved Sik to the ground, according to an AFP journalist in parliament.
Sik was then repeatedly assaulted on the ground by ruling party lawmakers.
The fistfight injured at least two opposition MPs.
Following the brawl, personnel cleaned blood stains from the parliament floor, as seen on video.
Ozgur Ozel, the head of the main opposition CHP party, condemned the violence.
“I am ashamed to have witnessed this situation,” he added.
Atalay was removed from his position after an ill-tempered parliamentary session in January, despite efforts by other communist members to prevent the proceedings.
He is one of seven convicts condemned to 18 years in prison in 2022 after a contentious trial that also resulted in the life sentence of award-winning philanthropist Osman Kavala.
Atalay, 48, campaigned from prison to be elected to parliament, representing the earthquake-ravaged Hatay province in the May 2023 general election.
He was elected as a member of the leftist TIP, which holds three members in parliament.
However, the election victory sparked a legal impasse between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s supporters and opposition leaders, pushing Turkey to the brink of a constitutional crisis last year.
Parliament’s decision to remove Atalay in January followed a Supreme Court of Appeals ruling that affirmed his conviction, paving the door for the removal of his parliamentary immunity.
However, on August 1, the constitutional court—which is in charge of determining whether judges’ verdicts accord with Turkey’s basic law—issued its decision on the matter.
It declared Atalay’s removal as a member of parliament “null and void.”
Turkey’s parliament has already voted to remove immunity from prosecution for opposition politicians, many of whom are Kurds, whom the government regards as “terrorists.”
