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New statement from Can Atalay regarding the chaotic parliamentary session: He points to Numan Kurtulmuş

Can Atalay has issued a statement regarding the chaotic session at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM). Stating that the current crisis will continue to grow if not resolved, Atalay expressed that a new parliamentary session could be an important opportunity. Atalay also reminded the Speaker of the Parliament of his responsibility.

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The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) convened on August 16 for Can Atalay, a Hatay deputy from the Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP), regarding whom the Constitutional Court (AYM) had issued a "null and void" ruling concerning the revocation of his parliamentary status.

During the Can Atalay session, which was marked by incidents, AKP deputy Alpay Özalan attacked TİP Istanbul deputy Ahmet Şık. While the session was adjourned 5 times, CHP deputy Okan Konuralp and DEM Party Group Deputy Chair Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit sustained injuries to their eyebrows during the scuffle. 

A statement has come from Can Atalay regarding the events that took place in the TBMM. 

Emphasizing that the incident in Parliament is a struggle for the Constitution, Atalay made the following statement:

"Although the issue is referred to by my name, I thank all the deputies, parties, and everyone who is fighting to uphold the Constitution, laws, justice, and rights, who stand against arbitrariness, who act, strive, defend, support, and show solidarity with the awareness of the grave consequences that the practice against me has created and will continue to create, and who do not bow to violence.

Your efforts are very valuable for the present and future of our country."

"HAS THE CAN ATALAY INCIDENT CLOSED?" 

Let's look at the current situation: "Has the Can Atalay Incident closed?" or has it moved to a more massive dimension by encompassing the Parliament as well?

The "Incident," which has been attempted to be ended for months, continues to expand at every stage by consuming, polluting, and encompassing the law, justice, institutions, and finally the Parliament.

This process can only stop when the clear mandate of the law is fulfilled. Even those who are concerned with and striving to keep Can Atalay in prison for a while longer see the destruction they have caused. Managing to keep Can Atalay in prison is the most insignificant detail of the matter. However, since complying with the Constitution and adherence to the law is stuck on a simple procedure—the re-entry of Can Atalay into the list of deputies—it cannot be bypassed, and the more it is suppressed, the more compellingly it emerges. In a place where the Constitution is violated, where every institution that violates it opens its own legitimacy to debate, the incident has now reached a state that far exceeds the Can Atalay Incident. Everyone now sees that what is called "finished" does not yield results by trampling on every procedure, decorum, institutional identity, law, and the Constitution for it to end, and that the incident keeps coming back to them over and over again.

"PARLIAMENT CANNOT SUSTAIN ITS EXISTENCE BY VIOLATING THE CONSTITUTION"

"Calling the Parliament to meet again is a new opportunity. The 'Incident' will inevitably be the main agenda every day when the Parliament reopens. Because the Parliament, which has sworn to protect and implement the Constitution and is primarily responsible, cannot sustain its existence by violating the Constitution itself. I hope that this situation will be seen and that steps will be taken without hiding behind legally baseless justifications that the speaker knows very well.

The Constitutional Court ruling requires a simple procedure. Responsibility and the solution lie with the Speaker of the Parliament. The name will be written on the list of deputies, and if deemed necessary, the decision will be read from the parliamentary podium. The whole process is of this simplicity.

I thank all my fellow deputies who act with the awareness that the 'Can Atalay Incident' is a struggle over whether constitutional law will prevail or arbitrariness will dominate, and who strive for a call to reconvene, and I wish them success."