Violent brawl within the Turkish parliament (Photograph) – Togotimes

A violent struggle broke out within the Turkish parliament throughout a debate over a jailed colleague. The elected officers got here underneath fireplace after the ruling occasion was described as a “terrorist organisation”.

A brawl broke out amongst Turkish lawmakers on Friday throughout a heated debate over an opposition consultant who’s presently jailed on what are broadly seen as politically motivated expenses.

Tv footage confirmed a lawmaker from the ruling occasion of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Ahmet Şık, a consultant of the identical occasion because the jailed lawmaker, as he spoke from the rostrum of the chamber, and the assault was violent. Şık had simply described the members of the ruling occasion as a “terrorist group”.

Throughout a struggle involving dozens of MPs, a feminine MP was punched, leaving drops of blood on the steps resulting in the speaker’s lectern. One other member of the opposition is claimed to have additionally been injured.

Bodily fights should not unusual amongst Turkish lawmakers.

“It is a shameful scenario,” mentioned Özgür Özel, who heads the most important opposition occasion. “As an alternative of exchanging phrases, fists are flying, there may be blood on the bottom. They hit ladies.”

Chosen from behind bars

A unprecedented session of the Most important Nationwide Meeting of Turkey was held to debate the case of Can Atalay, who was elected as a deputy of the Turkish Staff’ Occasion, or TIP, in final yr’s elections – whereas he was behind bars.

He was sentenced the earlier yr to 18 years in jail for his position within the 2013 anti-government protests, which challenged the facility of Erdoğan, then Turkey’s prime minister.

Since his election, Atalay has labored to occupy his seat within the Senedd, which supplies him immunity from prosecution and would permit him to be launched from Marmara jail. He mentioned he would return to jail when his time period ends.

Though he obtained favorable rulings from the Constitutional Courtroom, these have been ignored by decrease courts, triggering a judicial disaster and inflaming a way of injustice amongst his supporters.

In its third determination in favor of Atalay, the Constitutional Courtroom declared on August 1 that the choice to take away his parliamentary standing was “silly and void”.

The opposition events then demanded a particular session to debate the matter.

The conviction of Atalay and 7 different defendants within the Gezi Park case drew widespread criticism from human rights teams and legal professionals.

The primary defendant, philanthropist Osman Kavala, was jailed for all times with out the potential of parole. The European Courtroom of Human Rights twice known as for his launch, discovering his imprisonment to be arbitrary and politically motivated.

The Gezi Park protests started in the summertime of 2013 with an environmental camp geared toward stopping the event of a park in central Istanbul. Discontent shortly unfold to different cities as folks protested Erdoğan’s more and more authoritarian rule.

“Atalay’s freedom and private safety, in addition to his proper to be elected, which the Constitutional Courtroom discovered to have been violated, have to be restored,” Amnesty Worldwide’s workplace in Turkey mentioned in a social media submit on Friday.

The date for the resumption of the parliamentary session was not instantly specified.

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