Scuffle erupts over trustees at parliament event

ANKARA

A heated dispute over trustee appointments to municipalities on Nov. 20 led to a scuffle between deputies from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) during a parliamentary session discussing the Interior Ministry’s budget.

The tensions arose as CHP members protested the appointment of trustees to four municipalities, including the CHP-run Esenyurt Municipality and others governed by the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) in Mardin, Batman and Halfeti.

CHP members entered the session with signs reading, “No to the trustee budget” and “Trustees are a blow to the will of the people.”

The protest escalated into an altercation when AKP deputies accused the opposition of blocking Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya’s entry into the hall. CHP members denied the claim.

Yerlikaya eventually took his seat but tensions persisted between deputies and advisors.

Reacting to the incident, AKP spokesperson Ömer Çelik condemned the altercation in an X post.

"The attack by some CHP deputies on our Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya in the parliament is unacceptable. Barbarity and banditry will receive the political and legal answers they deserve on every ground," he wrote.