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’
Vessel struck off Oman’s Muscat, UKMTO says
DUBAI: A vessel was struck on Sunday by an unknown projectile 50 nautical miles north of Oman’s capital, Muscat, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said.
The attack resulted in a fire in the vessel’s engine room that has been brought under control, UKMTO added.
It is the second incident the agency reports on Sunday after reporting an incident off Oman’s Kumzar in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian state television said Sunday that an oil tanker was sinking after it was struck while attempting to pass through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The incident took place as Iran exchanged strikes with the United States and Israel, who launched an attack Saturday that killed the Islamic republic’s supreme leader.
“The fate of the offending oil tanker that was struck while attempting to illegally pass through the Strait of Hormuz is that it is now sinking,” state TV reported, without elaborating.
It carried footage showing heavy black smoke emanating from the burning tanker at sea.
The strait carries a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil and a fifth of all liquified natural gas.
On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had warned that the vital waterway was unsafe due to US and Israeli attacks and was therefore closed to ships.
