ISTANBUL –
A brawl broke out among Turkish lawmakers Friday during a heated debate over an opposition delegate currently jailed on what are widely considered to be politically motivated charges.
Televised footage showed Ahmet Sik, a representative from the same party as the imprisoned deputy, being approached and attacked by a lawmaker from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party while speaking at the chamber’s podium. Sik had just called members of the ruling party a “terrorist organization.”
In a subsequent scuffle involving dozens of deputies, a female lawmaker was struck, leaving drops of blood on steps leading to the speaker’s lectern. Another opposition member was also reportedly injured.
Physical tussles are not uncommon among Turkiye’s lawmakers.
“It is a shameful situation,” said Ozgur Ozel, who heads the largest opposition party. “Instead of words flying in the air, fists are flying, there is blood on the …