Istanbul, Jan 30, (dpa/GNA) – Turkey’s parliament on Tuesday, stripped jailed legislator Can Atalay of his seat, following a months-long stand-off between the country’s two top courts.
Atalay, elected to parliament in May from the Workers’ Party of Turkey (TIP), has been imprisoned since mid-2022 for allegedly aiding an attempt to overthrow the government with the 2013 Gezi Park protests.
An outspoken critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Atalay was kept at a high-security Istanbul prison, despite a Constitutional Court ruling for his release due to parliamentary immunity.
The Constitutional Court had sided with Atalay’s defence lawyers, who argued that his prison sentence was not yet final at the time of his winning office, meaning he should be released from prison.
Turkey’s top appeals court on Tuesday rejected the Constitutional Court ruling, saying Atalay must remain behind bars.
Chaos ensued in parliament in the capital Ankara, as the appeals court ruling was read out.
Opposition lawmakers protested, holding banners that read “Freedom for Atalay.”
The rare divergence between the two courts has led to a heated debate around what the opposition parties and bar associations called a constitutional crisis.
Atalay’s trial, along with businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala, was criticized as politically motivated, and has been ruled unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
GNA