Opposition lawmakers in Turkey have submitted a petition calling for an extraordinary session of the legislature to restore the parliamentary status of a jailed opposition lawmaker after the country’s top court declared the removal of his status “null and void” last week.
Can Atalay, who was elected to parliament from the Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP), is serving an 18-year sentence that was upheld by the top appeals court last year after his conviction in what’s known as the Gezi Park trial, concerning anti-government protests in 2013.
A judicial crisis erupted when the Supreme Court of Appeals, which upheld the politician’s conviction, refused to rule for his release from prison last year, defying two decisions by the Constitutional Court. In a first in the history of Turkey the appeals court also filed criminal complaints against members of the top court.
The Constitutional Court had ruled twice last year that Atalay’s rights to security and liberty and the right to stand for election were violated.
The top court said in its reasoned opinion that the Supreme Court of Appeals’ decision not to implement its rulings had no legitimacy.
Atalay demanded his immediate release through a written statement posted on X on Monday, saying he objected not only to the injustice he has suffered but also to the “constitutional crisis that our country is facing.”
The petition, signed by key opposition leaders, urges the Turkish parliament to convene to restore Atalay’s parliamentary status. Signatories include Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel, CHP deputy group chairpersons Murat Emir, Gökhan Günaydın and Ali Mahir Başarır, Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) deputy group chairpersons Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit and Sezai Temelli, Felicty Party (SP) deputy group chairpersons Selçuk Özdağ and Bülent Kaya, TİP leader Erkan Baş, Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) MP İdris Şahin, Democrat Party MP Cemal Enginyurt and Labor Party MP Sevda Karaca.
Atalay was stripped of his parliamentary status in January after a reading of the ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeals upholding his 18-year sentence in a riotous plenary session in parliament that saw angry chants and attempts to halt the proceedings by opposition deputies.
The 47-year-old Atalay successfully ran from prison for a seat in parliament representing the earthquake-ravaged Hatay province in the May general election.
The Gezi Park trial defendants including Atalay and prominent businessman Osman Kavala were convicted of attempting to overthrow the government for their alleged role in the protests, which began over an urban development plan in central İstanbul and spread to other cities in Turkey.
The youth-driven demonstrations morphed into a nationwide protest against perceived corruption by the ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) and then-prime minister and current president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s growing authoritarianism.
Erdoğan’s government violently dispersed the protests and then began to crack down on its leaders.