Erkan Baş hits back at Numan Kurtulmuş's 'null and void' claim: 'The piece of paper you had read is what is null and void'

The Constitutional Court's ruling on the violation of rights regarding Can Atalay, a Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) Hatay MP who is currently imprisoned due to an 18-year sentence in the Gezi Park trial, was officially read in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) General Assembly on April 16, 2025. 

Reactions to the reading of the ruling were raised by AKP Group Deputy Chairman Leyla Şahin Usta and Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş.

Kurtulmuş stated, "I condemn Deputy Speaker Karaca and Clerk Member Suiçmez, and I declare that I will exercise my powers derived from the Constitution and the Rules of Procedure against them."

Numan Kurtulmuş said, "The fact that Deputy Speaker Karaca had a text read by a clerk in violation of the Constitution, the Rules of Procedure, and parliamentary customs is both an overreach of authority and legally null and void."

Kurtulmuş further claimed that the Parliament was subjected to an unlawful practice during the session where get-well messages were conveyed to Önder, and that this behavior was a sign of disrespect toward Önder personally.

Baş reacted to Kurtulmuş's statements on his social media account. 

Erkan Baş's post was as follows:

"We would have expected Mr. Numan, who went abroad that day to avoid experiencing this shame, to leave this statement to Bekir Bozdağ.

But since he has made a statement creating the suspicion that it is legal by citing the Constitution and the Rules of Procedure, let me respond.

The decision regarding Can Atalay's status as an MP, which Deputy Speaker Gülizar Biçer Karaca had read, is the decision rendered by the Constitutional Court and is binding on all of us according to the current Constitution.

The decision that is null and void is the piece of paper you had read regarding the stripping of Can Atalay's parliamentary status.

Even if you remove it from the Parliament's website, strip him of his personal rights, or censor the parliamentary records, you cannot eliminate tens of thousands of Hatay residents and their will.

Can Atalay is the elected MP of Hatay.

I also see it as a duty to remind you that the Parliament where you currently serve gains its meaning from having taken power from the Palace and the Sultan and given it to the people."