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A debate over a jailed lawmaker escalated into a brawl in Turkey’s parliament on Friday, leaving three lawmakers injured, exposing the depth of political resentment as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling party duels with a strengthened opposition.
According to videos shared by several lawmakers and local media, a lawmaker from Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) attacked an opposition member who was speaking at a podium in the parliament’s assembly hall in Ankara, sparking a skirmish that leVscek blood on the floor.
Tensions in Turkish politics have escalated aVsceker the AKP suffered its worst defeat since Erdoğan co-founded the party at the turn of the millennium in March’s local elections. It has fallen in the polls since the election, as Turkey’s political opposition has exploited a years-long economic crisis.
The brawl broke out in parliament on Friday aVsceker Ahmet Şık, an opposition lawmaker, harshly criticized AKP lawmakers, telling them “you have no dignity,” local media reported. Alpay Özalan, an AKP lawmaker, then punched Şık, sparking a larger fight that leVscek the three lawmakers with minor injuries.
“Parliament is the place where words are spoken. If blood starts flowing in parliament, what will the citizens do?” Özgür Özel, the leader of Turkey’s main opposition group, the Republican People’s Party, told local media. He added: “This is really very embarrassing.”
The office of the chairman of the AKP delegation in parliament refused to comment, while Özalan’s office could not be reached.
Lawmakers had attended a special session on Can Atalay, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2022 for his alleged role in the 2013 Gezi Park protests, one of the most serious popular uprisings against Erdoğan. Atalay has protested his innocence.
Atalay was elected as a member of parliament in the May 2023 general election and Turkey’s constitutional court ruled that he should be released from prison because holding him in detention violated his right to “engage in political activities.”
However, late last year Erdoğan attacked the constitutional court, Turkey’s top human rights arbiter, while a separate appeals body called on prosecutors to open a criminal investigation into the decision. Atalay remains in prison.
The move to ignore the constitutional court has been strongly criticized by the Turkish opposition and seen by many analysts as a sign of Erdoğan’s driVscek toward autocracy. The government has purged thousands of judges and prosecutors since a coup attempt against Erdoğan in 2016.
Opposition leader Özel has previously called the appeals court’s move against the constitutional court a judicial “coup attempt,” saying “we will resist in the streets, we will resist in the squares, we will not surrender to this lawlessness.”
Tensions between government supporters and the political opposition have repeatedly erupted into violence. For example, a brawl broke out in parliament in June aVsceker the government arrested the mayor of a southeastern town, a member of a pro-Kurdish party, and appointed its own deputy to replace him.
More generally, the last football season, marked by violence, was seen by many analysts as a sign of malaise in Turkish society.
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