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A debate about a jailed lawmaker descended into a brawl in Turkey’s parliament on Friday that left three MPs injured, exposing the depth of political resentments as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling party duels with an emboldened opposition.
An MP for Erdoğan’s Justice and Development party (AKP) charged at an opposition member who was speaking at a podium in parliament’s main assembly hall in Ankara, triggering a skirmish that left blood on the floor, according to videos shared by several lawmakers and local media.
Tensions in Turkish politics have intensified after the AKP in March local elections suffered its worst defeat since Erdoğan co-founded the party at the turn of the millennium. It has declined in the polls since the election as Turkey’s political opposition seized on a years-long economic crisis.
The fight broke out in parliament on Friday after Ahmet Şık, an opposition MP, sharply criticised AKP lawmakers, telling them “you have no dignity”, local media reported. Alpay Özalan, an AKP MP, then struck Şık, igniting a broader clash that left the three MPs with minor injuries.
“Parliament is the place where words are spoken. If blood starts flowing in the parliament, what will the citizens do?” Özgür Özel, the leader of Turkey’s main opposition group, the Republican People’s party, told local media. He added: “This is really very embarrassing.”
The office of the chair of the AKP delegation in parliament declined to comment, while Özalan’s office could not be reached.
Lawmakers had been attending a special session about Can Atalay, who was in 2022 sentenced to 18 years in prison over his alleged role in 2013’s Gezi park demonstrations, one of the most serious popular uprisings against Erdoğan. Atalay has protested his innocence.
Atalay was elected as an MP in the May 2023 general election, and Turkey’s constitutional court ruled that he should be released from prison because holding him in detention infringed his rights to “engage in political activities”.
However, late last year Erdoğan hit out at the constitutional court, Turkey’s top arbiter on human rights issues, while a separate appeals body called on prosecutors to open a criminal probe into the decision. Atalay remains in jail.
The move to disregard the constitutional court was strongly criticised by Turkey’s opposition, and was viewed by many analysts as a sign of Erdoğan’s slide towards autocracy. The government has purged thousands of judges and prosecutors since a coup attempt against Erdoğan in 2016.
Opposition leader Özel has previously called the move by the appeals court against the constitutional court a judicial “coup attempt”, saying “we will resist in the streets, we will resist in the squares, we will not surrender to this lawlessness”.
Tensions between supporters of the government and the political opposition have repeatedly boiled over into violence. A fight broke out in parliament in June, for example, after the government arrested the mayor of a city in the south-east who was a member of a pro-Kurdish party, and installed its own appointee to take his place.
More broadly, the past football season, which was marred by violence, was seen by many analysts as a sign of malaise across Turkish society.
Additional reporting by Funja Güler
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