A fierce fight with punches and kicks broke out in Turkish National Assembly at the extraordinary meeting of the Plenary with the object of the assignment of the chair to Jan Atalaian elected member of parliament for the left-wing Turkish Workers’ Party (TİR), who is in prison convicted of his involvement in the 2013 anti-government protests, commonly known as the Gezi Park uprising.
The violent incidents in the National Assembly occurred when the Istanbul deputy of TIR was on the podium, Ahmed Shikwho addressing the MPs of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) said: “You have no shame. You have no shame whatsoever. You have no dignity”.
MPs of the AKP reacted by shouting and moving with wild moods against the speaker. The chairman of the meeting, AKP member of parliament and vice-president of the National Assembly, Bekir Bozdag, interrupted the meeting for 15 minutes and when it resumed, Shik took the floor again and continuing his speech he turned to the government seats saying: “If all of you together had done what Atalai did alone, he would have been worshiped for the rest of your lives. The biggest terrorist organization in this country are those who sit in these chairs.”
Following this, AKP MPs stood up and attacked the TIR MP. Pandemonium followed and the deputy of Smyrna of the AKP, Alpay Özalanpunched Sik.
Two wounded
In the incidents that occurred, a member of parliament of the pro-Kurdish Equality and People’s Democracy Party (DEM), Gulistan Kilic Kocgigit, was injured, who was first taken to the Parliament’s clinic and then to a hospital.
CHP MP Okan Korunalp was also injured. Images of traces of blood on the steps are circulating on social networks and the media. The Plenary meeting was adjourned again for 45 minutes.
Alpay Özalan from the AK Party attacked Ahmet Şık on the podium like this
DEM Party member Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit was seen injured in the ensuing fight
While all the events were taking place, TBMM Deputy Speaker Bekir Bozdağ left the council pic.twitter.com/mTVwxb8yGb
— duvaR (@gazeteduvar) August 16, 2024
Democracy in Turkey – in a Turkish parliament session several officials of Erdogans AKP stood up and attacked officials from the Kurdish DEM Party pic.twitter.com/IgLvJczbw5
— ScharoMaroof (@ScharoMaroof) August 16, 2024
What had come before
The emergency meeting of the National Assembly was called by the CHP, the DEM and the small left-wing opposition parties, who are demanding that the Constitutional Court’s decision be implemented and that Can Atalai be sworn in as a member of parliament.
The ruling side – including the government-backed Gray Wolves Nationalist Action Party – as well as Islamist and other nationalist parties refuse to implement the ruling, citing a Supreme Court of Cassation ruling to the contrary, despite the constitutional provision that Constitutional Court rulings prevail of other courts.
The Constitutional Court announced on 22 February that the Court of Cassation’s previous decision to revoke Atalai’s parliamentary status was “null and void”, and its reasoned decision was published in the Government Gazette on 1 August. Therefore, he should be released from prison and take up his duties in the National Assembly.
48-year-old Can Atalai is a lawyer and activist. He has handled many cases in the past that had a strong social and political impact, while in 2013 he was a lawyer for the organization Taksim Solidarity, which was founded during the protests to prevent the Gezi Park in Istanbul’s Taksim Square from being turned into a shopping center, protests which developed into social upheaval.
In 2022 he was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in this case. In the parliamentary elections of 2023, he was elected as a member of parliament for the province of Hatay (Alexandretta) with the Labor Party of Turkey.
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