A total of 125 lawmakers in the Turkish parliament haven’t taken the floor to speak since the beginning of the year, with 103 of them members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the Diken news website reported on Monday, citing parliamentary records.
There are currently 580 lawmakers in parliament, including 10 party leaders. There are 286 lawmakers from the ruling AKP, followed by those from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), with 134; the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), 56; the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), 48; the İYİ (Good) Party, 37; and the Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP), with four. There are also one or two deputies in parliament from each of nine smaller parties in addition to five independent lawmakers.
According to Diken, 125 lawmakers, which corresponds to nearly 22 percent of all Turkish parliamentarians, haven’t spoken in the general assembly so far in 2022. The large majority of them are from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s AKP.
The remaining 22 lawmakers include members of the CHP (6), HDP (5), MHP (6) and the İYİ Party (3), along with two independents, Diken said.
Among the MPs who haven’t spoken in the general assembly so far this year are those who haven’t spoken in parliament since their swearing-in in 2018, according to Diken.
AKP lawmakers are criticized for failing to voice the problems of the people they represent in parliament and only speak as much as allowed by President Erdoğan, who is also the leader of the AKP.