Turkey's opposition True Path Party (DYP) demanded yesterday that the Prime Minister, Mr Bulent Ecevit, resign over the death of one of its deputies following a brawl in parliament.
Mr Fevzi Sihanlioglu suffered a heart attack on Tuesday night after being hit during chaotic scenes of fighting by a deputy of the right-wing Nationalist Action Party (MHP), a partner in Mr Ecevit's three-party coalition.
Mr Sihanlioglu, the head of a powerful south-eastern family based in the town of Sanliurfa, fell to the floor clutching his chest and was declared dead an hour later in hospital.
"The most honourable move in the face of this [incident] is to resign. That's why we call upon the Prime Minister and the deputy parliament speaker to resign," the DYP leader, Ms Tansu Ciller, said at a news conference.
The former prime minister said her party colleague "bore five or six blows to the head". It was not clear whether they were the cause of the death, she said, "but what is critical and regrettable here is that this incident took place under the parliamentary roof".
Fighting broke out in parliament during debate on government proposals to speed the passage of legislation, especially vital economic reforms, often held up by painstaking votes on individual details. The DYP insisted that the proposals would stifle debate and silence opposition.
Mr Ecevit criticised the violence yesterday and said his government was determined to continue its work "in peace, as coalition partners", the nearest that he came in a statement to implicit criticism of MHP involvement in the incident.
In 1989 a member of the Motherland Party, a junior member of the present government, shot dead another deputy during a quarrel in the lobby. The victim was also a member of the DYP.