Footage released by Cumhuriyet daily on the X social network showed ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) MP Alpay Ozalan hitting Ahmet Sik, a member of the opposition Turkish Workers’ Party (TPP), who was giving a speech at the time.
After that, it can be seen how A. Sikas fell from the platform to the ground.
Soon after, a fierce fight broke out, A. Sika was attacked and punched by more MPs.
At least two opposition members were injured as they tried to separate the gunmen, broadcaster Haberturk reported, adding that blood was seen on the floor of the parliament hall and sharing images of the fighting.
Speaking to reporters in parliament, Ozgur Ozel, a spokesman for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), said one party member had been injured, condemning the incident as “absolutely shameful”.
Gülistan Kilic Kocyigit, chairwoman of pro-Kurdish party DEM, had her eyebrow slashed, the party said on social network X, condemning the attack by AKP members as “vandalism”.
An extraordinary session was held in the parliament, during which the legal situation of Cano Atalay, who was stripped of his parliamentary mandate in January, was discussed.
TKP member C. Atalay, who became an MP in May, 2022. was behind bars in mid-2013 for allegedly participating in an attempt to overthrow the government in 2013. Gezi Park protests.
Mr. Atalay, an outspoken critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is being held in a maximum-security prison in Istanbul, despite a Constitutional Court ruling demanding his release because he enjoys parliamentary immunity.
2024-08-16 16:23:41