Ruling AKP deputy justifies pushing HDP’s Tuncel

ANKARA

AKP deputy Oktay Saral. CİHAN Photo

A ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy who earlier admitted punching opposition deputies during a heated parliamentary session, has suggested that offering an apology to “ideology amigos” would be an “insult against the national will.”

AKP deputy Oktay Saral went on the offensive concerning his “slight pushing of” Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Sebahat Tuncel, saying “A lady should know how to act ladylike.”

Speaking at a press conference at parliament on Feb. 24, Saral gave his side of events on Feb. 17, when fisticuffs broke out between government and opposition MPs on the first day of parliamentary debates on a controversial government-led security package.

“During the incident, I was sitting on my chair. Sebahat Tuncel was pushing [AKP Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair] Mustafa Elitaş at the rostrum. Everybody knows that she has previously slapped a police chief. A lady should know how to act ladylike. I went to go and warn her, but she continued pressing on Elitaş. I said ‘Go away,’ but she wouldn’t. What was I supposed to do? We slightly pushed [her],” Saral said.

Three main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmakers - Musa Çam, Aykut Erdoğdu and Mahmut Tanal -as well as Tuncel and Ertuğrul Kürkçü from the HDP, were injured late on Feb. 17 during the debate, which was closed to the press.