THURSDAY 5 MARCH 2020World news in brief
Order, order: debate boils over into confrontation in Turkey’s parliament (AP)
Fists fly as Turkish politicians brawl over insults
Politicians exchanged blows in the Turkish parliament yesterday during a tense discussion about the
country’s military involvement in northwest Syria. Legislators from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
party and the main opposition party pushed each other while some threw punches as others tried to pull the
brawling legislators apart.
Fighting is not unheard of in Turkey’s parliament in the capital Ankara. The clash started when Engin
Ozkoc of the opposition Republican People’s Party took the rostrum. During a news conference shortly
before, Mr Ozkoc called Mr Erdogan “dishonourable, ignoble, low and treacherous”. He also accused the
president of sending the children of Turkey’s people to fight while Mr Erdogan’s own offspring avoided
long-term military service.
During a speech to members of his party, Mr Erdogan himself had accused the opposition earlier of being