Ziya Ozturkler was on Monday elected as the north’s ‘parliament speaker’ at the sixth attempt, bringing to an end a political crisis which lasted 42 days and saw 16 rounds of voting in ‘parliament’ and two premature declarations of victory.
Ozturkler was elected with 27 votes in his favour and 21 votes against among his ‘parliamentary’ colleagues on Monday afternoon.
He had believed he had been elected to the role a month ago, when the ruling coalition announced that he had received 26 votes in his favour and 23 against. However, the opposition insisted that given that three of the ballot papers counted by the ruling coalition as votes in Ozturkler’s favour had more than one mark on them, they were invalid.
He had initially promised that should he fail to be elected within two rounds of voting, he would withdraw his candidacy, but in the end went through six rounds of voting before being elected.
After the fifth round a month ago, the ruling coalition had insisted that he had been elected, publishing his appointment as ‘speaker’ in the north’s ‘government’ gazette – a move which provoked the fury of the opposition.
He then attempted to open ‘parliament’ in his capacity as ‘speaker’, but opposition ‘MPs’ refused to attend. Shortly after, ‘deputy speaker’ and opposition party the CTP ‘MP’ Fazilet Ozdenefe then opened ‘parliament’ in her capacity, with the ‘government’ then cutting the live television feed which broadcasts ‘parliament’s’ goings on at all times.
When both the ruling coalition and the opposition returned to ‘parliament’ together on November 5, business centred on whether Ozturkler had been elected or not, with Ozdenefe declaring she had opened the eighth session since the legislative year began on October 1, and the ruling coalition insisting that Ozturkler’s attempt to open ‘parliament’ the week before constituted a legal session.
This argument became physical the following week, with Ozturkler having arrived in the chamber early in the morning to attempt to secure the seat and opposition ‘MPs’ physically attempting to prevent him from taking it.
As tensions reached a crescendo and UBP ‘MP’ Emrah Yesilirmak held CTP ‘MP’ Erkut Sahali back from the ‘speaker’s’ chair first by his chest and then by his neck, CTP ‘MP’ Dogus Derya spotted an opening and reached the front of the chamber, picking up a bottle of water and throwing its contents over Ozturkler.
‘Parliament’ was then adjourned for a week, with Ozturkler tendering his resignation from the role on Monday morning, saying he had done so to “pave the way for budget discussions” to take place in ‘parliament’, after they were delayed by a week due to arguments over the position he had claimed.
However, just three hours later, the ruling coalition once again announced he would be their candidate for the role, and he was, at the sixth attempt, elected.
