A fierce brawl broke out in the Turkish parliament

On August 16, 2024, during a special session of the Turkish parliament, dozens of lawmakers exchanged insults and brawled over the discussion of dismissing a lawmaker, and at least two lawmakers were injured in the violent brawl.

The brawl began when Alpai Özalan, a lawmaker from the ruling Justice and Development Party, punched Ahmed Şeker, an opposition lawmaker, while Şeker was criticizing the government over imprisoned lawmaker Can Atalay, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison by the Supreme Court. Then other lawmakers also took action, triggering a fierce brawl among dozens of lawmakers for nearly half an hour. At least two opposition lawmakers suffered minor injuries to their eyes.

After the incident, the leader of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party, Özguer Özel, said "he was ashamed to witness such a situation" and called on the speaker of the parliament to immediately convene a meeting of the heads of all political party groups. The pro-Kurdish People's Equality and Democracy Party also said "The Justice and Development Party lawmakers who do not recognize the law and do not implement the decisions of the Constitutional Court have turned the parliament into a violent arena. Their destructive behavior has once again crossed the line", and strongly condemned this. The speaker of the Turkish parliament later said that the two lawmakers who caused the brawl would be subject to relevant sanctions.

Physical conflicts often occur in the Turkish parliament. There was also a fierce conflict in March 2020. At that time, a lawmaker from the Republican People's Party accused President Erdogan of disrespecting Turkish soldiers who died in Syria during a speech, which then triggered dissatisfaction among dozens of lawmakers and led to a "melee" on the scene. On December 7, 2022, the Turkish parliament had a fierce debate on the budget for next year, which also triggered dozens of lawmakers to quarrel and fight with each other. Eventually, one lawmaker was taken to the hospital by ambulance.