ANKARA: A lawmaker from a Turkish nationalist opposition party was rushed to intensive care on Tuesday after getting punched in the head in parliament during a heated budget debate.

Images released by the DHA news agency showed Iyi (Good) Party lawmaker Huseyin Ors, 58, being struck by ruling AKP parliamentarian Zafer Isik. Several other lawmakers fell to the ground during the brawl.

Fellow Iyi Party lawmaker Aylin Cesur, a doctor by training who administered first aid on the chamber’s floor, said Ors’s condition remained critical. “He is still being treated in intensive care,” DHA quoted Cesur as saying.

“I am very sad,” she said. “His general condition was not good after the blow to the head.”

Turkiye’s lively parliament has witnessed numerous fights during particularly sensitive debates. In 2020, a fistfight erupted during tense discussions over Turkiye’s military involvement in Syria.

This year’s budget debates come with lawmakers of all stripes trying to defend their interests six months before the next scheduled parliamentary and presidential polls.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2022