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Video | Turkish lawmakers throw punches, flying kicks amid corruption investigation feud

Bill to give ruling party more say in appointing judiciary members causes ruckus in parliament

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Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has moved to increase his powers over the judiciary amid a widening graft crackdown against his allies. Photo: AFP

Turkish politicians threw punches and water bottles during a debate on Saturday about government control over the appointment of judges and prosecutors, as a feud over the ruling party’s handling of a corruption scandal intensified.

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One lawmaker leapt on a table and threw a flying kick as others wrestled and punched at each other, with document folders, plastic water bottles and even an iPad flying through the air, a Reuters correspondent in the room said.

Parliament’s justice commission was gathering to discuss a draft bill from Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party to give it more say over the judiciary when the scuffles broke out.

The fight erupted when a representative of a judicial association arrived with a petition arguing the bill was anti-constitutional but he was not allowed to speak, witnesses said.

“If I am being kicked at here as a representative of the judiciary, all prosecutors and judges will be trampled on when this law passes,” a ruffled Omer Faruk Eminagaoglu, head of the Yarsav professional association, said after the ruckus.

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Erdogan has cast the wide-ranging corruption investigation, which poses one of the biggest challenges of his 11-year rule, as an attempted “judicial coup” meant to undermine him in the run-up to local and presidential elections this year.

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