DEM Party MP Bozan and AKP MP Eldemir speak to 12punto: We asked the parties involved about the parliamentary brawl

Caner Taşpınar / 12punto.com.tr

DEM Party Mersin MP Ali Bozan, in his speech at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) General Assembly, said, "The AKP, through TurkStat, is regularly stealing from the pockets of workers, civil servants, and retirees every month.

Unfortunately, the voices of workers and retirees are not being heard, but I want to shout out here on behalf of the citizens whose wages are being stolen from their pockets: There is a thief, there is a thief, there is a thief! The AKP is stealing, the AKP is stealing, the AKP is stealing."

The argument that started with a "theft" dispute between DEM Party's Ali Bozan and AKP deputies turned into a brawl with punches and kicks. 

As the argument escalated, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Bekir Bozdağ adjourned the General Assembly for 15 minutes. Despite the break, the argument in the hall continued. While AKP deputies walked towards Bozan, AKP Bilecik MP Halil Eldemir grabbed him by his jacket and threw him to the ground. During the events, which CHP deputies tried to prevent, some AKP members were seen kicking Bozan, who had fallen to the floor. Former Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu also slapped and then punched Bozan.

Here are those images: 

AKP deputy attacked DEM Party deputy in the fistfight in Parliamenthttps://t.co/dTlTAuXQoQ pic.twitter.com/Yo9ZW8mv2R

— 12punto (@12puntocomtr) July 24, 2024

CHP Niğde MP Ömer Fethi Gürer and other CHP deputies took Bozan out of the crowd and led him towards the DEM benches. As Bozan was being taken to the lobby, AKP deputies chased after him, and the scuffle continued there as well. Bozan later went to his office accompanied by opposition deputies.

Following this, reactions rose from the ruling party benches towards Bozan. Bozan responded to the AKP members who shouted "ill-mannered" at him, saying, "You are incapable of expressing yourselves, you only resort to insults, your mouths smell of filth."

                AKP MP Halil Eldemir

AKP MP HALİL ELDEMİR SPOKE TO 12PUNTO: WHEN TENSIONS RUN HIGH IN PARLIAMENT...

12punto extended its microphone to the parties involved in the fight. 

Following the fight, DEM Party MP Ali Bozan and AKP MP Halil Eldemir spoke to 12punto.

AKP MP Halil Eldemir said in his statement to 12punto, "Such incidents happen when tensions run high in Parliament."  

DEM PARTY MP ALİ BOZAN SPOKE TO 12PUNTO: AN ORGANIZED ATTACK

DEM Party Mersin MP Ali Bozan, in his statement to 12punto, assessed the incident as an "organized attack." 

                           DEM Party Mersin MP Ali Bozan

DEM Party's Ali Bozan described what he experienced as follows:  

"When you look between the lines of Erdoğan's speech yesterday, it is clear that this was an organized attack. Another indicator of this is that the AKP group is only crowded during simple voting and roll calls. Outside of voting and roll calls, the AKP group is not present in the Parliamentary General Assembly.

They are a group that just raises and lowers their hands. In yesterday's attack, there were deputies I noticed for almost the first time. Normally they would leave after the roll call, but they were there during my speech. My speech was about TurkStat misreporting inflation data and, consequently, the theft from the pockets of retirees and workers. And the name for this is theft. When I said it was theft, a serious reaction formed. 

We see that the AKP group is cornered in Parliament. They are cornered because they have nothing to say on the issues being discussed in Parliament, from education to taxes and animal rights, so they carried out this attack. Violence is a method resorted to by cowardly and incapable people who have nothing to say, and they chose that.

Especially at that moment, some of our deputies from our parliamentary group were at the Human Rights Commission. The fact that they chose a moment when our friends in the parliamentary group were few in number shows that it was an organized attack."

News Source: 12punto