Turkey's parliament on Friday.

Ex-star involved in bizarre fight
Huge fight after the profile's attack

Andreas Käck

Published 00.32

A major brawl broke out in Turkey's parliament on Friday.

Right in the center: Alpay Özalan, 51.

The former soccer player attacked a speaker for the pro-Kurdish HDP party.

Video clips(Videoklipp)from inside the parliament show former Premier League player Alpay Özalan attacking Ahmet Sik - MP for the pro-Kurdish HDP party - during his speech at the podium.

Then total chaos breaks out and about twenty politicians break out in a full-scale fight.

"I'm ashamed"

The news agency Reuters reports on "blood spatter on the floor" and the Turkish BBC writes that several were injured and that one had to be taken to hospital.

- I am extremely ashamed to have experienced a situation like this in our parliament, says Özgur Özel, leader of Turkey's largest opposition party, the secular CHP.

Photo: AP

"Terrorists"

During his speech, Ahmet Sik spoke about his former journalist colleague Akin Atalay, who was sentenced to prison in 2022 for allegedly supporting terrorist groups.

Sik - a former journalist with the regime-critical newspaper Cumhuriyet and now a member of parliament for the pro-Kurdish HDP party - directly targeted supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AKP party, calling them terrorists.

That's when Alpay Özalan flew out of his chair and attacked him.

Özalan was a professional footballer between 1991 and 2008. He played for Premier League side Aston Villa between 2000 and 2003 and has made 90 caps for Turkey.

In 2018, he entered politics.

Alpay Özalan in a duel with Henrik Larsson during an international match Photo: Jack Mikrut / TT Nyhetsbyrån