Turkish MPs Recount Mass Brawls in Parliament Started by Erdogan’s Party

Sputnik spoke with Ayhan Bilgen and Garo Paylan, two members of the Peoples’ Democractic Party (HDP), who revealed how things in Turkey are getting tense, as parliamentarians representing the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) are getting out of control, using their firsts to settle differences with their political opponents.

Turkish parliamentarians got into mass brawl twice this week. Both fights were instigated by MPs from Erdogan's AKP, who attacked parliamentarians from the opposing HDP when they didn't like a speech given by one of the HDP members.

"The ruling party (AKP) doesn't want the presence of HDP members in the parliament. In fact, in Mecilis [the Turkish National Parliament] a coup is being carried out. This week we witnessed in the parliament something that is often witnessed in football stadiums. It was total lawlessness," Bilgen told Sputnik.

Indeed, the events weren't taking place in a football stadium, but at the parliament. Bilgen added that until such acts of violence in the parliament are strictly supressed and perpetrators punished, it won't be safe for other parliamentarians to work.

Ankara — TBMM / AKP grubundan HDP'li Milletvekillerine saldırı. pic.twitter.com/uRF0GTXqga

— TWİTTER GAZETESİ (@TWITERGAZETESI) 27 апреля 2016 г.

​Describing the most recent brawl that took place in the parliament, Bilgen said it all started with AKP members trying to interfere with the speech of one of the HDP's members. When he finally finished speaking and stepped down from the platform, the outraged AKP members attacked the speaker. HDP members intervened, trying to save their colleague and a massive brawl erupted.

"The chairmen of parliamentary factions didn't take necessary measures to stop the brawl. As a  result, deputies Ferhat Anju and Caglar Demirel sustained serious injuries. The AKP didn't make any apologies and those who started the fight received no disciplinary actions," Bilgen said.

According to Garo Paylan, these incidents are the blatant attempts of Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party to rule the parliament using brute force instead of diplomacy and politics.

"None of them is capable of talking using common sense," Paylan told Sputnik, adding that AKP members blindly follow instructions from the president, not thinking about the consequences.

Paylan fears that if things don't change, it would lead to an increase in the number of violent cases in Turkish political circles.

"The situation is escalated to such an extend that diplomatic and political methods soon will no longer work," Paylan explained.

Currently, Erdogan's AKP holds 317 seats out of 550 in the Turkish parliament. The HDP, which criticizes the leading party for violence against the Kurdish population in the southeastern part of the country, has 59 seats.