The pictures say it all: punches, kicks and injured deputies during Turkey’s parliamentary session

One deputy charged that Erdogan’s party bench had “no shame or dignity”. This is what we have seen since then

At least three deputies were injured in a fight involving punches and kicks during a session of the Turkish parliament this Friday over the impeachment of opposition deputy leader Can Adele.

The controversy erupted during an intervention by Labor Party vice-chairman Ahmed Sigh, who accused the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) group of having “no shame or dignity”.

In 2013, Kane Atalle was removed from office after he was convicted of the protests in Kezi Park in Istanbul.

Ahmed Cic accused the AKP of being the “biggest terrorist organization” in Turkey, after which one of his deputies, Albay Öcalan, approached Ahmed Cic and punched him in the face. After a while, there was chaos in the half cycle.

Apart from Sick, two other deputies were injured.

“We strongly condemn this aggression. They attacked opposition representatives on the basis of their numerical superiority and wounded our group’s vice-chairman, Gulistan Kilic Kozikit, in the eyebrow”, announced DEM on social network X. “We strongly condemn this attack”.

For his part, Ozgur Ozel, head of the main opposition CHP party, urged Turkish National Assembly Speaker Numan Kurtulmus to “take immediate action”. “The occupation is unacceptable,” he declared in a statement.

Can Atalay, a human rights lawyer, was elected vice president on the Turkish Workers’ Party list in the May 14 elections, but was unable to be sworn in at the opening session of the new legislature.

Atalle, an opposition figure, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for crimes related to the Gezi protests that erupted in 2013 to block the reflection of Ottoman forces, a mosque and an opera house in Istanbul’s main green spaces.

The Turkish Constitutional Court ruled in October 2023 that his rights to freedom and personal security had been violated, and ordered the suspension of proceedings against him. Atalle was arrested in April 2022 as part of protests described by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as an attempt to overthrow the government.