Tension in TRNC Parliament as members fight over president's seat

There was drama and tension in the TRNC assembly this morning when opposition members, the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) refused to let the government coalition member assume role as parliament president. 

The opposition party, the CTP do not recognize Ziya Öztürkler of the ruling coalition of UBP – YDP – DP as the president of the assembly.

Events unfolded at the assembly at around 11:45 am on Monday when the CTP proposed that the parliament be opened by the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Fazilet Özdenefe and the budget committee be discussed to start its duties, but the coalition government rejected the proposal.

As tension rose, verbal and physical arguments started between the MPs while Öztürkler who was sitting in the president's seat had water thrown at his face.

Speaking after the incident, CTP President Tufan Erhürman said, ""We suggested that Fazilet Özdenefe open the Assembly and approve the memorandum for the opening of the budget committee. We made our constructive suggestion".

Erhürman stated that the brawl in the Parliament was an image they did not find correct and that the problems should be solved through dialogue.

“The dialogue started on Saturday evening,” Erhürman said, “We drew a framework for this dialogue based on the rule of reason and law. It was important for the Parliament Budget Committee to meet. Our aim was not to disrupt the budget, but to have Parliament operate in accordance with the procedure and law.”

Tufan Erhürman stated that the budget committee could not work because the Assembly session was not closed and they presented a proposal on this issue:

“At this point, we said that we should freeze the discussions regarding the Presidency of the Assembly and establish a dialogue. We said that we should not obstruct the work of the budget committee. We conveyed that we were open to discussing a different proposal if it came. However, our proposal was not accepted and there was an attempt to force a session.”

Pointing out that Ziya Öztürkler was not elected as the Speaker of the Parliament, Erhürman said, “This is against the law and it is not possible for the Parliament to accept this,” and stated that there is no point in a Parliament that does not function in accordance with the law enacting laws, and that this has turned into a police state model.

Erhürman said, “Our struggle is a legal struggle against an unelected person occupying the Speakership seat.”

Erhürman stated that the CTP will not take a single step back from its will to defend democracy and law in this process, and said, "We do not share the same understanding of democracy and law with those who say the CTP should turn a blind eye."

Erhürman underlined that CTP will not accept this imposition.

The government proposed that the General Assembly meeting be postponed for 1 week, and the CTP group accepted the proposal.

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