Fisticuffs and pushing and shoving took centre stage once again yesterday at Turkey’s Grand National Assembly, where Erdoğan’s newly appointed Justice and Interior Ministers Akın Gürlek and Mustafa Çiftçi were due to be sworn in and take office. The CHP, the main opposition party, claiming that Gürlek’s appointment was unconstitutional, tried to occupy the rostrum while deputies from Erdoğan’s AKP party surrounded it to prevent it, raising tensions and leading to a new brawl in the Turkish parliament.
The swearing-in ceremony for Justice Minister Akın Gürlek and Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi began amid high tension as the CHP protested that the appointment of Gürlek, who had been serving as Istanbul’s chief prosecutor, violated the constitution. Turkish media reported that the seats of the CHP parliamentary group were full after the party had forced its members to be present in the chamber “without excuse“. Turkey’s main opposition party argued that judges and prosecutors cannot be candidates unless they resign, while the AKP countered that the CHP’s constitutional interpretation was wrong – “he is not a candidate, read it correctly” said the AKP bench – and that the President of the Republic has the authority to make the appointment.
The AKP, meanwhile, had prepared to counter the CHP‘s expected protest. When the chairman of the CHP parliamentary group, Murat Emir, approached the rostrum where the ministers were to be sworn in with a copy of the Constitution in his hand, accompanied by other deputies from his party, the AKP MPs acted more quickly and managed to surround the rostrum to stop the attempted occupation, which led to a direct clash between the deputies.
The altercation finally broke out when Bekir Bozdağ, AKP member and deputy speaker of the Turkish parliament, who was also presiding over the session, invited Akın Gürlek to the rostrum to take the oath of office. The first punch was reportedly thrown by Osman Gökçek of the AKP, and Mahmut Tanal of the CHP responded. Cameras also captured footage of another fight between Gökçek and another CHP MP, Servet Mullaoğlu.
Amid shouting and scuffles, the minister was unable to take the oath of office
After the fight, Tanal was taken to the parliament’s infirmary, where he was diagnosed with a broken nose. Both he and Mullaoğlu were subsequently sent to hospital. CHP MP Cem Avşar was also reported to have suffered a dislocated arm in the melee. Amid the fighting and chaos, new Justice Minister Akın Gürlek approached the rostrum and began his swearing-in. AKP MPs formed a human cordon around him in the midst of the melee, while the shouting went on and on, so that Gürlek was unable to complete the oath and left the chamber escorted by bodyguards and other AKP MPs. Bekir Bozdağ was forced to suspend the session, although the fighting continued during the recess.
Bozdağ later reopened the session and invited Gürlek back to the rostrum, who, surrounded again by AKP MPs, resumed the oath. A CHP deputy threw a copy of the Constitution while other CHP MPs booed continuously; nevertheless, Gürlek – amidst AKP applause – swore “to uphold the rule of law, the democratic and secular Republic and to maintain loyalty to the Constitution”, and on his second attempt he was able to complete the oath, after which he left the hall.
The new Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi was then sworn in again under the protection of the same human wall and in a tense atmosphere, and after both ministers had completed the ceremony, the session was suspended again while the new ministers were escorted to their vehicles. Akın Gürlek, who opened an X account in the last few hours, thanked for the support he received in a message on the social network: “As Minister of Justice, I have been sworn in before our esteemed Parliament, which embodies the national will. I would like to express my sincere thanks to our valuable deputies who accompanied us at the ceremony and did not fail to lend their support.”
Opposition considers the ceremony “absolutely null and void“
Following the tense ceremony in parliament, CHP MPs issued a statement to the media in which the parliamentary group’s leader, Murat Emir, announced that the party considered the minister’s swearing-in “absolutely null and void“. “It did not take place and the conditions were not fulfilled. There were two ministers in the gallery, which was practically under siege, and under these conditions the oath is invalid.”
However, the leader of the Turkish nationalist party MHP (fourth force in the Turkish parliament), Devlet Bahçeli, released a statement on his X account claiming that the appointment took place “within a perfectly legal and legitimate framework”. Bahçeli, a political ally of Erdoğan and the AKP, denounced the “anti-democratic and fascist treatment of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), including the occupation of the rostrum”. “This intolerant and arrogant attitude has nothing to do with politics or democracy. The National Movement Party (MHP) fully supports and stands behind the decisions and plans of our President (Erdoğan), as well as the newly appointed ministers,” he concluded.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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