Dozens of lawmakers became embroiled in a fisticuffs brawl in Turkey’s parliament on Friday as they argued over a jailed opposition deputy stripped of his parliamentary immunity this year. The 30-minute ruckus, which left at least two lawmakers injured, forced the suspension of the hearing. Deputies eventually returned for a vote that rejected an opposition move to restore the parliamentary mandate of lawyer and rights activist Can Atalay. Atalay won his seat in an election last year after campaigning from his prison cell. The parliamentary turmoil erupted after ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) member Alpay Ozalan launched into Ahmet Sik, a member of the leftist Workers’ party of Turkey (TIP), who had condemned the government’s treatment of Atalay. The parliamentary speaker said the two deputies at the origin of the brawl would be sanctioned. Atalay was deprived of his seat after an ill-tempered parliamentary session in January, despite efforts by fellow leftist deputies to halt the proceedings. He is one of seven defendants sentenced in 2022 to 18 years in prison following a controversial trial that also saw the award-winning philanthropist Osman Kavala jailed for life. From prison, Atalay, 48, campaigned for a parliament seat for the earthquake-ravaged Hatay province in a May 2023 election. He was elected as a member for the leftist TIP, which has three seats in the parliament. The win led to a legal standoff between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s supporters and opposition leaders that pushed Turkey to the verge of a constitutional crisis last year. Parliament’s decision in January to oust Atalay came after a ruling by the supreme court of appeals that upheld his conviction, clearing the way for the move to strip him of his parliamentary immunity. But on 1 August, the constitutional court – which reviews whether judges’ rulings comply with Turkey’s basic law – said that Atalay’s removal as a member of parliament was “null and void”. AKP and far-right Nationalist Movement party deputies joined forces to defeat the opposition motion on Friday. Turkey’s parliament has previously voted to lift immunity from prosecution of opposition politicians – many of them Kurds – who the government views as “terrorists”.