Woman killed by Turkish assailant in HDP offices in Izmir

by

Today at 11 AM local time, a female party member by the name of Deniz Poyraz was killed in HDP’s (People’s Democratic Party) Izmir Provincial Building, local media reports. The assailant also tried to set the HDP building on fire. According to Cumhurriyet, the assailant allegedly stated that he carried out the attack at random: “I have no affiliation with anyone. I entered the building because I hate the PKK and fired at random.”

The killing took place despite the building being located opposite a police station. HDP says that there was no intervention by Turkish police for a long time.

The HDP states on its official Twitter profile that the instigator of this attack is the Turkish government. The attack took place during a time when Turkish authorities have been vilifying members and friends of the pro-Kurdish HDP. There have been on-going attempts to shut down the party, and on June 21, Turkey’s Constitutional Court will carry out its first review of an indictment filed by Bekir Sahin, chief public prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals, accusing the HDP of working with the PKK and seeking to dissolve the pro-Kurdish, pro-democratic party.

Meral Daniş-Beştaş, Member of Parliament for HDP, said to Bianet: “We see these attacks as a continuation of the closure case filed against the HDP. Those who try to destroy the HDP in this way will have to accept it. Whenever the government is in trouble, it stirs the tension through the HDP. It has the HDP debated on TV everyday, it targets the HDP.

Bianet quotes Mahfuz Güleryüz, a member of the HDP central executive as saying: “This attack was waiting to happen.”