A ruling party MP has attacked an opposition colleague during a heated debate
Dozens of lawmakers in Ankara brawled during a tempestuous session of the parliament on Friday, after a ruling party MP struck an opposition colleague who called the government “terrorists.”
Tempers flared as the Turkish legislature debated the fate of Serafettin Can Atalay, an opposition lawmaker currently in prison for his alleged role in the 2013 Gezi Park riots. The Hatay province representative was stripped of immunity and expelled in January, but the Constitutional Court overruled that decision earlier this month.
“It’s no surprise that you call Atalay a terrorist,” MP Ahmet Sik of the Turkish Workers’ Party (TIP) said during the session, according to AFP.
“All citizens should know that the biggest terrorists of this country are those seated on those benches,” Sik added, pointing to the legislators from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). “The truth always hurts. You have no shame or dignity,” he added.
Democracy in Turkey – in a Turkish parliament session several officials of Erdogans AKP stood up and attacked officials from the Kurdish DEM Party pic.twitter.com/IgLvJczbw5
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AKP member Alpay Ozalan, a former footballer, then approached the dais and punched Sik. Dozens of lawmakers then swarmed the dais, either throwing punches or trying to separate the combatants.