Turkish Lawmakers Fight Over Erdogan's Policy in Syria

Members of the Turkish Parliament exchanged punches today, Wednesday, in a fight that erupted during a speech by an opposition MP after President Reccep Tayyib Erdogan was accused earlier of not showing enough respect to the Turkish soldiers who were killed in Syria.

The fight broke out between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmakers when AKP deputies reacted against CHP group Deputy Chair Engin Özkoç's speech.

A video footage of the incident showed dozens of MPs joined the fight, some of whom climbed up tables or punched while others tried to end the fight.

MP Özkoç, of the opposition Republican People's Party, accused Erdogan at a press conference and then, on Twitter, of not respecting the soldiers who died last week in Idlib, Syria.

Özkoç also accused the president of not being responsible for sending troops into a conflict without air cover.

Parliament Speaker Mustafa Shantoub denounced the opposition MP's statement.

The Anatolia news agency reported that the prosecution in Ankara had opened an investigation into suspected insult of the president.

Earlier, Turkey’s military incursion in Syria has given President  Erdoğan a bump in opinion polls and exposed potential cracks in an informal political alliance that claimed surprise victories over his ruling party in local elections this year.

Erdoğan’s popularity had come under pressure after last year’s currency crisis caused a recession that sent unemployment soaring, and also from criticism by former prominent AKP members who already have many of them launching new parties.