Parliament Speaker Kurtulmuş: We received the news of Haniyeh's martyrdom 5-6 hours after our plans

Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş made statements regarding the agenda on Habertürk TV.

Here are Kurtulmuş's statements:

The day Mahmoud Abbas came and spoke here is an extraordinary day for both the history of Turkey and the history of the TBMM. Of course, this was not easy. There was quite a long preparation period.

I received the news that Netanyahu would speak, and I had written the official invitation letter to Mr. Abbas 12 days prior.

Our intention was to have them speak on the same day. However, due to his health reasons, it was not possible for him to come here on that day.

What we planned was this: Mr. Abbas would come here as he is the President, and on the same day, Haniyeh and our President would also come, and he would watch the meeting from the gallery. We consulted these with our President. We were even going to invite Mr. Haniyeh to this hall to explain what is happening in Gaza. However, 5-6 hours after our planning, the news of Haniyeh's martyrdom arrived.

"If the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh had not occurred, Haniyeh would have been invited and would have been here. The fine detail here is this: Since Mr. Abbas is an accepted official head of state, he would speak from the podium of the Assembly; if that had been the decision, the late Mr. Haniyeh would have watched the session of our deputies from the gallery together with our President.

3 DEPUTIES TO THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE FOR THE PROSECUTION OF ISRAEL

Abbas gave a historic speech. We showed that the TBMM as a whole stands behind the Palestinian cause. In fact, even before this meeting, the TBMM has demonstrated its joint sensitivity 4 times since the October 7 events. In two of these, declarations were issued with a common language signed by the group deputy chairmen of the parties.

One of these was on October 9, and the other was on the evening when the Al-Shifa Hospital was bombed; while the Assembly was in session, it interrupted the session and all groups condemned that massacre with a joint signature. Twice, the text we sent to the Assembly as a presidential motion was read, and that text was also accepted unanimously.

In addition, we assigned 3 of our colleagues from the Assembly during the International Court of Justice's trial process of Turkey, and they were involved in these court processes at every stage. Our deputy colleagues made very significant contributions alongside our friends in the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in making these applications.

JOINT REACTION FROM THE ASSEMBLY TO ABBAS'S SPEECH

It was not just from the AK Party benches, but deputies from other benches and other parties also stood up. Especially at some points, everyone stood up. We saw all the deputies stand up in the face of Mahmoud Abbas's excellent emphasis, especially in the final section. It was truly one of the moments where a joint reaction was shown.

WILL THE PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION GO TO PALESTINE?

From the beginning of the issue, these proposals have always come, saying let's go as a group, let's go as a parliamentary delegation. Ultimately, if we show how we stand by the Palestinian people in the most meaningful way, we will be part of that effort. All of these are matters of planning and possibility. We all want to go to Gaza soil tomorrow morning, we all want to provide the closest support to Palestine, but ultimately, one must go by calculating and understanding how we will achieve results.

THE FIGHT DURING THE CAN ATALAY SESSION

I wish we had never experienced what we lived through on August 16 after such a historic day. A deputy stood up and provoked the parliament with a very destructive and hurtful language, using a completely provocative and bad style. None of those images are acceptable. This did not suit Turkey or the TBMM. Especially, it did not suit the joint stance of the day before at all. Politics is indeed a field of struggle. You fight with your ideas, but 'The style of expression is the person himself.' Whatever a person speaks, that is who they are.

Remember the old politics; they said very harsh words to each other, but with irony and even using elements of humor from time to time. This was also politics. If you devalue your opponent, what is your own value worth? First of all, by gathering all the deputy speakers here, we will create a common ground for action so that deputies do not find themselves in such a situation again. The Assembly must be managed with dignity. "

Akif Bey, do you know what I am sad about? We took the figures in front of us within a year; dozens of laws have come out of the Assembly, dozens of hours have been debated, ruling parties and opposition parties have sacrificed some things, a great working environment has emerged in the Assembly. In an Assembly where there is so much effort and such qualified debate, none of these are being talked about; a year's worth of effort is being thrown into the trash can with the bad images and rhetoric of that day. The TBMM does not deserve this.

I do not want to get into political gossip; it is not my style. It was Bekir Bozdağ's turn to manage the Assembly. Celal Adan was the one who managed the last session when the Assembly closed; after him, Bekir Bozdağ came. Even if it had been Gülizar Hanım's turn, Gülizar Hanım would have managed it; this is the first point. Secondly, since the meeting was an extraordinary meeting, the Speaker of the Assembly can assign whoever he wants according to custom. Since the last session ended with Celal Adan, the turn after that belongs to Bekir Bey. Incorrect information was talked about for days.

KURTULMUŞ NOT MANAGING THE SESSION

The Speaker of the TBMM manages the Assembly on certain days of the year according to custom; he manages it on the day the Assembly first opens, he manages it on the first day the budget begins, and he manages it on the last day of the budget. Apart from this, he manages the sessions he wants. The deputy speakerships of the Assembly were established for this. It is not possible for the Speaker of the Assembly to manage the session every day of the year. There is a sequence, and whichever deputy speaker's turn it is within that sequence manages the Assembly.

CHP'S CALL FOR A 2ND SESSION FOR ATALAY

There is no extraordinary meeting request that has come to me in any way. The Enis Berberoğlu and Gergerlioğlu cases are cases that occurred in previous terms.

In one, the 14th High Criminal Court, and in the other, the Kocaeli Assize Court, the prison sentences they gave were upheld by the Court of Cassation, then read in the Assembly, their deputyships were revoked, and then they went to the Constitutional Court. The court said that this was a violation of rights and sent it to the local court; the local court said, 'Okay, this is a violation of rights.'

The court decision was read in the Assembly and they regained their deputyships. Here, in the first part of the issue, the court made its decision. Look, no one should do this injustice; we waited for a while for the second decision that the Constitutional Court would give in case they went to the Constitutional Court again and a second violation of rights decision came, so that two actions would not be taken. But the local court insisted on its own decision, and we had to read the finalized judicial decision that came to us in accordance with the relevant provision of the constitution, and we read it, thus the deputyship was terminated.