ANKARA: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed yesterday to forge ahead with judicial reforms which prompted a fist fight in parliament, denying he was trampling on the constitution as the government battles a damaging corruption scandal.
Rival MPs threw punches, water bottles and even an iPad as parliament’s justice commission met on Saturday to discuss a draft bill from Erdogan’s AK Party which would give it more say over the appointment of judges and prosecutors.
Erdogan’s opponents view the bill as an effort by the government to stifle a corruption scandal which has already led to the resignation of three cabinet ministers.
The fight erupted when the head of a judicial union, Omer Faruk Eminagaoglu, arrived with a petition saying the bill would violate the constitution, as argued by opposition MPs, but was not allowed to speak, witnesses said.
Turkish plane in emergency landing
CASABLANCA: A Turkish Airlines plane en route to Brazil made an emergency landing in Morocco yesterday after a bomb warning, an airline official said. The plane landed at Casablanca Airport after taking off from Istanbul.
“The security check is underway in the plane. When completed, it will resume its journey to Sao Paulo,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
An airport official in Casablanca, Morocco’s largest city, also confirmed the plane had landed, and initially said it was “probably due to a technical fault”. But the same official later said there had been a bomb scare on the plane.
Agencies
