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Two MPs injured in fistfight in Turkish parliament during session for jailed MP stripped of status

Turkish ruling and opposition lawmakers fight each other after a scuffle between former footballer Alpay Özalan (unseen), a lawmaker from ruling Justice and Development Party and Turkish Workers Party (TIP) deputy Ahmet Şık in the Turkish parliament in Ankara on August 16, 2024. A brawl broke out in Turkey's parliament on August 16, 2024, after lawmakers convened to discuss the status of a jailed opposition figure controversially stripped of his parliamentary immunity earlier this year. They were meeting after the country's constitutional court earlier this month struck down parliament's decision to oust Can Atalay from his parliamentary seat. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP)

Two opposition lawmakers were injured when tensions in the Turkish parliament turned into a fistfight, with an opposition lawmaker attacked by a ruling party deputy during an extraordinary session on Friday about a jailed lawmaker who was stripped of his parliamentary status.

Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lawmaker Alpay Özalan, a former footballer, attacked Ahmet Şık, a deputy from the Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP), while he was delivering a speech at the beginning of the session.

A video circulating on social media shows Özalan hitting Şık as he stands behind the podium and Şık falling to the ground as other lawmakers rush to intervene. A fistfight among lawmakers then ensues.

Şık was attacked after he directed harsh criticism at the AKP for keeping behind bars politician Can Atalay, who was elected to parliament from TİP in the May 2023 general election but was not released from prison despite two Constitutional Court rulings in his favor.

Atalay 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, and which was labelled as a “politically motivated” trial by many.

In his speech Şık accused AKP lawmakers of being members of the “biggest terrorist organization” in Turkey who “brought down the state with the dynasty mafia,” a reference to a “terrorist” description President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan used for Atalay.

He said it is not surprising for the AKP and its leader to call Atalay a “terrorist” since they do so for everyone who is not a member of their party.

Şık’s comments drew angry responses from ruling party lawmakers, prompting the chairman to call a break.

Gülistan Koçyiğit, a lawmaker from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), and Okan Konuralp, from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), were injured as they tried to stop lawmakers who were trading punches.

Video footage from parliament showed drops of blood on the floor from the injured lawmakers, who sustained cuts to their foreheads.

The parliament took a recess after the fight.

Opposition lawmakers strongly condemned the attack on Şık and the fistfight in the parliament.

CHP leader Özgür Özel described the scene in parliament on Friday “shameful,” calling on Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş to bring political party leaders together for an urgent meeting to discuss the incident.

“If blood is being spilled in parliament, what will people do?… Instead of exchanging words, [lawmakers] exchange punches, kicks. There are blood stains on the floor. Women are being hit,” Özel said, adding that it is no longer possible for the parliament to continue without addressing the acts of violence under its roof.

The DEM Party, in a statement on X, accused AKP lawmakers who turned the parliament into a “venue of violence” of committing vandalism, also criticizing their lack of respect for the law and Constitutional Court decisions.

The party said it condemns in the strongest terms the acts of violence that resulted in the injury of their lawmaker Koçyiğit, while vowing that no attacks will discourage them from doing politics for the people and defending the truth.

Other opposition lawmakers also tweeted condemnation of the attack, calling it a result of “AKP fascism and “a crisis of democracy and the rule of law,” and also calling AKP lawmakers “barbarians.”

Opposition Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) lawmaker Mehmet Emin Ekmen displayed video footage showing parliament staff washing away the blood on the floor, saying that those stains will remain forever on Turkish democracy.

“You may be able to wash away the blood of the MPs who … were injured in the attack by Alpay Özalan on Ahmet Şık at the podium and the subsequent attacks and brawls that spilled blood on the marble steps, but the stains on our democracy will remain there forever,” he tweeted.

Extraordinary session

The extraordinary session in the legislature was called to consider the parliamentary status of Atalay after the Constitutional Court declared the removal of his status “null and void” in early August, once again reviving calls for his immediate release and reinstatement of his status.

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 the top court’s two decisions. In a first in the history of Turkey, the appeals court also filed criminal complaints against the members of the Constitutional 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.

According to the court, it is legally impossible to talk about a conviction for Atalay following its ruling on him on October 25, 2023 and that it’s a constitutional requirement to eliminate the circumstances leading to the rights violation.

The court said a court ruling that has been established to be in violation of the constitution has no legal standing.

Following the Constitutional Court’s decision, Atalay’s lawyers applied for his release, arguing that his rights to liberty and security and his right to stand for election have been violated. The opposition parties, including the CHP and others, have urged the parliament to act quickly to reinstate his status.

If the court’s decision were to be read during the session, it could initiate the process to restore Atalay’s parliamentary seat.

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.

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 AKP and then-prime minister and current president Erdoğan’s growing authoritarianism.

Erdoğan’s government violently dispersed the protests and then began to crack down on its leaders.

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