Assaulted in Parliament during the meeting for the internal security package, HDP Member of Parliament described the fight that broke out: “You cannot but run for help when a friend of yours is being assaulted by thugs. If there is a price to pay for that, we are prepared, but the real problem here is that the Parliament is increasingly resembling a slaughterhouse.”
5 Members of Parliament were injured during the fight that broke out during the parliamentary meeting for the omnibus bill known as the ‘internal security package’. The fight began with taunts between AKP and CHP and HDP Members of Parliament during the closed session of the General Assembly, and turned into a full-blown fight during which HDP MP Ertuğrul Kürkçü, and CHP MPs Musa Çam, Aykut Erdoğdu and Mahmut Tanal were injured.
HDP MPs held a press conference at the Parliament today, and stated that the AKP had to apologize especially because of the attack carried out by its MPs on female parliamentarians.
HDP MPs stated that the session speaker Ayşenur Bahçekapılı lost her impartiality and adopted a hard stance against the opposition. “The fact that Bahçekapılı remained silent in the face of violence will go down in history,” said Pervin Buldan, and called for an apology from the AKP. HDP MP Ertuğrul Kürkçü, who suffered a head injury during the fight, came to the Parliament wearing a helmet today.
Pervin Buldan’s statement was as follows:
“This bill will eventually bring the government down. We, as the HDP, will do everything in our powers to prevent this draft law passing. We once again issue a call from here. This package, which will draw Turkey into a dark period, must immediately be withdrawn. The government should focus on the peace process, and do whatever is necessary. The deputy head of the AKP group must be investigated, and AKP MPs must apologize from us.”
Ertuğrul Kürkçü explained the details of the fight with the following words:
“I normally use this helmet to protect my head, but now I believe I need it to protect myself from AKP MPs. I will use this equipment in Parliament from now on. This is not mere black humour. What we experienced yesterday has left the impression that we have now crossed a certain threshold. Mustafa Elitaş [AKP MP] will soon tell you how bad people we are, but if this were not a closed session, this was what you would have seen:
When the AKP group deputy heads pressurised the session deputy head to stop our friends from speaking, our MPs Pervin Buldan and Sebahat Tuncel went up to the speaker’s stand; upon which male AKP MPs began to physically attack them, and we were impelled to go to the help of our friends.”
‘They slung a punch at Tuncel’
“I could not have sat and watched for the sake of politeness when my friends were being harassed. I went up to the front to prevent the punch slung at Sebahat Tuncel, and I was hit myself, and then they continued attacking us.”
‘Oktay Saral attacked MPs with speaker’s hammer’
“I also witnessed AKP MP Oktay Saral attack several opposition MPs with the speaker’s hammer. He was the one who injured [CHP MP] Aykut Erdoğdu. He was also the one who attacked [CHP MP] Mahmut Tanal. He led the attacking regiment of the AKP. But even more importantly, other AKP MPs took no objection to these attacks, they saw no harm in women MPs being disrespectfully harassed, which proved that their previous words about Özgecan Aslan [the student who was brutally raped and murdered in Mersin] were insincere.”
“Yes, I might have staved off this attack with a few scratches, but no one can know beforehand what can happen in such attacks. [CHP MP] Musa Çam could have faced a much more serious injury [Çam was hospitalized]. We have to question the motivation for them to collectively attack opposition MPs in Parliament. I believe that the internal security package has become an issue of life and death for them. Either this draft law passes, or their power is threatened.”
“I ask you to imagine this: Police forces will be formed with the same mentality as these AKP MPs if this draft law passes. The same goes for plainclothes policemen and the gendarmerie. And if we are to lend an ear to the President’s call, even civilians will act the same. We shall keep this incident in our mind as an example of how law enforcement will use its powers to resort to force, duress or firearms to turn the country into a slaughterhouse if this law passes.”
“All this took place with no access to the public because of the AKP’s decision to hold a closed session. I would have liked you to witness it, but then again, I would have not, as human beings. You would have abandoned the Parliament if you had seen MPs speak and act in that manner towards their colleagues.”
“After speaking about women’s rights and women’s presence all day, for them to attack our female colleagues in this manner, and for us to adopt our traditional role to protect them, makes me feel both unfortunate, and like a victim. You cannot but run for help when a friend is being assaulted by thugs. If there is a price to pay for that, we are prepared, but the real problem here is that the Parliament is increasingly resembling a slaughterhouse.”
Elitaş: Women MPs assaulted themselves
AKP Group Deputy Head Mustafa Elitaş also made a statement regarding the attack on HDP MPs Pervin Buldan and Sebahat Tuncel in the General Assembly, and said: “The women MPs assaulted themselves. They carried out the assault. From what I understand, they hit themselves. No AKP MP would attack others, especially women.”
