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
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.
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.
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.