Dozens of MPs were involved in a brawl in the Turkish parliament on Friday (local time) as they argued over the lifting of the parliamentary immunity of an imprisoned opposition lawmaker.

The 30-minute fracas, in which at least two MPs were injured, led to the adjournment of the hearing. MPs eventually returned for a vote, which rejected an opposition request to return lawyer and human rights activist Can Atalay’s parliamentary mandate.

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Atalay won his seat in an election last year after campaigning from his prison cell.

The tumult in parliament broke out after Alpay Ozalan, a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), attacked Ahmet Sik, a member of the left-wing Workers’ Party of Turkey (TIP), who had condemned the government’s treatment of Atalay.

(The following video is from Reuters)

“It is no surprise that you call Atalay a terrorist,” he said.

“All citizens should know that the biggest terrorists in this country are those sitting on these benches,” he added, referring to the ruling majority.

Ozalan, a former football player, went to the stands and pushed Sik to the ground, an AFP journalist said in parliament.

While he was lying on the ground, Sik was repeatedly beaten by AKP MPs. Dozens of MPs joined in the brawl.

Footage posted online shows the brawl and how staff subsequently cleaned bloodstains from the floor of parliament. One MP from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and one from the Party for Equality and Democracy of Peoples (DEM) suffered head injuries.

Özgür Özel, the leader of the main opposition party CHP, condemned the violence.

“I am ashamed to have witnessed this situation,” he added.

The parliamentary speaker said sanctions would be imposed on the two MPs responsible for the brawl.

Legal dispute

Atalay was stripped of his seat after a heated parliamentary session in January, despite efforts by his left-wing fellow MPs to stop the session.

He is one of seven defendants sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2022 in a controversial trial that also saw award-winning philanthropist Osman Kavala sentenced to life imprisonment.

From prison, 48-year-old Atalay campaigned for a parliamentary seat in the earthquake-devastated province of Hatay in the May 2023 elections.

He was elected as a member of the left-wing TIP, which has three seats in parliament.

The victory sparked a legal battle between supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and opposition leaders that brought Turkey to the brink of a constitutional crisis last year.

Parliament’s decision in January to remove Atalay followed a ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal that upheld his conviction, paving the way for the lifting of his parliamentary immunity.

But on August 1, the Constitutional Court – which examines whether judges’ rulings are compatible with Turkey’s constitution – declared Atalay’s dismissal as a member of parliament “null and void”.

MPs from the AKP and the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) joined forces on Friday to reject the opposition’s motion.

The Turkish parliament had previously voted to lift immunity from prosecution for opposition politicians – many of them Kurds – whom the government considers “terrorists”.