ANKARA: Lawmakers from Turkiye’s ruling AK Party and the pro-Kurdish DEM Party brawled in parliament’s general assembly on Tuesday over the detention and replacement of a DEM Party mayor in southeast Turkiye.
On Monday, police detained Mehmet Siddik Akis, mayor of the southeastern Hakkari province bordering Iran and Iraq, just two months after he won power in local elections. Turkiye’s Interior Ministry said Akis played a high-level role within the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militia, while replacing him with the state governor.
After the 2019 municipal elections, Turkiye detained virtually all pro-Kurdish mayors over alleged PKK ties and replaced them with state officials. DEM has previously denied any association with the PKK.
Tensions flared in parliament when DEM lawmakers held signs and chanted slogans, occupying the speaking podium in the general assembly in protest of Akis’ detention and replacement.
“Shoulder to shoulder against fascism,” DEM lawmakers chanted, as legislators from President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party (AKP) chanted counter-slogans such as “Damn the PKK” while ripping up signs held by DEM lawmakers.
Footage showed the lawmakers arguing loudly and shoving each other. A punch led to one scuffle that caused some lawmakers to fall over, with others held back from joining in the fight.
It was not immediately clear who threw the punch.
The general assembly closed for the day after the incident.
The main opposition Republican People’s Party has also criticized the detention and replacement of Akis, calling it “disrespect” to the people of Hakkari.
In the March 31 local elections, DEM reaffirmed its regional strength, winning 10 provinces in Turkiye’s mainly Kurdish southeast.
Turkish authorities accuse DEM and its pro-Kurdish predecessors of ties to the PKK, which is designated a terrorist group by Turkiye, the United States and the European Union.
Over 40,000 people have been killed in the PKK’s separatist insurgency against the Turkish state, launched in 1984.
Lawmakers brawl in Turkish parliament over pro-Kurdish mayor’s detention
https://arab.news/bbsnf
Lawmakers brawl in Turkish parliament over pro-Kurdish mayor’s detention
- ‘Shoulder to shoulder against fascism,’ DEM lawmakers chanted
- AKP Legislators chanted counter-slogans such as ‘Damn the PKK’
Arab, Muslim countries slam US ambassador’s remarks on Israel’s right to Middle East land
- The backlash widened sharply on Sunday as more than a dozen Arab and Islamic governments issued a joint statement denouncing the US diplomat’s comments as “dangerous and inflammatory”
JERUSALEM: Arab and Islamic countries issued a joint condemnation on Sunday of remarks by US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who suggested Israel had a biblical right to a vast swath of the Middle East.
Huckabee, a former Baptist minister and a fervent Israel supporter, was speaking on the podcast of far-right commentator and Israel critic Tucker Carlson.
In an episode released Friday, Carlson pushed Huckabee on the meaning of a biblical verse sometimes interpreted as saying that Israel is entitled to the land between the river Nile in Egypt and the Euphrates in Syria and Iraq.
In response, Huckabee said: “It would be fine if they took it all.”
When pressed, however, he continued that Israel was “not asking to take all of that,” adding: “It was somewhat of a hyperbolic statement.”
The backlash widened sharply on Sunday as more than a dozen Arab and Islamic governments — alongside three major regional organizations — issued a joint statement denouncing the US diplomat’s comments as “dangerous and inflammatory.”
The statement, released by the United Arab Emirates’ foreign ministry, was signed by the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria and the State of Palestine, as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
They said the comments contravene the UN Charter and efforts to de-escalate the Gaza war and advance a political horizon for a comprehensive settlement.
Iran joined the chorus with its foreign ministry accusing Huckabee on X of revealing “American active complicity” in what it called Israel’s “expansionist wars of aggression” against Palestinians.
Earlier, several Arab states had issued unilateral condemnations.
Saudi Arabia described the ambassador’s words as “reckless” and “irresponsible,” while Jordan said it was “an assault on the sovereignty of the countries of the region.”
Kuwait decried what it called a “flagrant violation of the principles of international law,” while Oman said the comments “threatened the prospects for peace” and stability in the region.
Egypt’s foreign ministry reaffirmed “that Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory or any other Arab lands.”
The Palestinian Authority said on X that Huckabee’s words “contradict US President Donald Trump’s rejection of (Israel) annexing the West Bank.”
On Saturday, Huckabee published two posts on X further clarifying his position on other topics touched upon in the interview, but did not address his remark about the biblical verse.
The speaker of the Israeli parliament, Amir Ohana, praised Huckabee on X for his general pro-Israel stance in the interview, and accused Carlson of “falsehoods and manipulations.”
Carlson has recently found himself facing accusations of antisemitism, particularly following a lengthy, uncritical interview with self-described white nationalist Nick Fuentes — a figure who has praised Hitler, denied the Holocaust and branded American Jews as disloyal.
