Istanbul, Oct 1. (dpa/GNA) – Lawmakers from Turkey’s main opposition New Party, walked out of parliament in Ankara on Thursday, in protest against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as the legislature returned from its summer recess.
Opposition leader, Özgür Özel, accused Erdoğan of carrying out a “judicial coup” against his party, and of jailing the opposition’s presidential candidate.
New Party lawmakers left the chamber, as the national anthem was being sung, before Erdoğan began his address.
The protest came just hours after authorities detained the opposition mayor of the southern city of Mersin.
The former main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), had selected jailed former Istanbul mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, as its presidential candidate.
Polls had long shown him as a potentially strong challenger to Erdoğan. After a court removed Özel as CHP leader, he and other lawmakers founded the Yeni Parti, or New Party, in July. İmamoğlu later joined the new party.
Separately, jailed lawmaker and human rights lawyer, Can Atalay, began a 24-hour hunger strike to coincide with the reopening of parliament, and called for his release, his Workers’ Party of Turkey (TIP) said on X.
Atalay was sentenced to 18 years in prison, in connection with the 2013 Gezi Park protests against the government, but was elected to parliament in 2023.
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Atalay’s detention, violated his rights.
GNA