The Turkish parliament was in chaos on Friday after a member from an opposition party referred to President Recep T. Tayyip Erdoan’s party as a “terrorist group.”
After Sik’s “terrorist claim”, a member of Erdogan’s Party approached Ahmet Sik who was in the same Workers’ Party of Turkey delegate as the one believed to have been imprisoned due to political reasons. The Erdogan party members attacked Sik.
Sik stated in his speech, “We are not surprised you have called Can Atalay a terrorist. You do the same thing to everyone who doesn’t agree with you.” “But the biggest terrorists in this room are those who sit here.”
Soon, dozens had joined in the skirmish. Some threw punches, others tossed papers, and still others tried to stop the fight.
The blood of a female legislator was splattered on the podium.
“It is a shameful situation,” Ozgur Ozel, who heads the Republican People’s Party, the largest opposition party, told The Associated Press. “Instead of words flying in the air, fists are flying. There is blood on the ground. They are hitting women.”
The Turkish Grand National Assembly was debating Can Atalay who had been elected as a deputy parliamentary in May 2023, while he was still in prison for his role in the 2013 anti-government demonstrations.
Atalay was sentenced to jail for 18 years by Erdogan in 2022 because of protests against his rule. He wants to finish the term in Parliament, but he will return to prison afterward.
The immunity of being a member of parliament is a great benefit.
In a ruling dated August 1, the Constitutional Court declared that the decision not to allow Atalay to sit in the parliament was “null” and “void” after the parliament had stripped him of his position.
The Constitutional Court had ruled three times in Atalay’s favor. However, the lower courts ignored its decisions.
International human rights organizations have called Atalay and other’s imprisonment and sentencing including Osman Kavala’s philanthropist, arbitrary, and motivated by politics.
Amnesty International Turkey said in a post on social media that “Atalay’s personal freedom, security and right to be elected should be restored,” the Constitutional Court had ruled.
The parliament reopened after three hours, with Sik being punished by the speaker of the house along with the legislator who had attacked him.
