Fistfights break out in Turkish Parliament over Syrian involvement

The fight began after Engin Ozkoc, a member of the opposition Republican People’s Party, began to speak, according to NBC News. Prior to the outburst, Ozkoc said Erdogan was “dishonorable, ignoble, low, and treacherous” for sending Turkish troops to fight in northwest Syria while the president’s children allegedly avoided lengthy terms of military service.

Erdogan used the same phrase during a speech of his own and said Ozkoc was “dishonorable, ignoble, low, and treacherous” for pushing back on the military’s intervention in Syria.

Syria and Turkey have been fighting in the region in a conflict that is complicated by Russia’s close involvement and coordination with the Syrian government and its dictator Bashar Assad. More than 50 Turkish service members were killed in the Syrian province of Idlib in the past month. Of those, 33 were killed last Thursday in a Syrian airstrike. Turkey responded with missile attacks on a number of Syrian targets.

Turkey also shot down two Syrian warplanes over the weekend, further heightening tensions.

Kelly Craft, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, emphasized U.S. support for Turkey in the escalating conflict.

“In the days ahead, the United States’s commitment to our NATO ally, Turkey, will not waver. Turkey has our full support to respond in self-defense to unjustified attacks on Turkish observation posts that resulted in the deaths of their own forces,” she said.

The fighting has further inflamed a humanitarian crisis in the region and displaced thousands of Syrians.