The office in Marmaris, in the Aegean region, was attacked. An assailant, known to the police for a similar attack in the past and already apprehended, fired more than 100 shots. No casualties or injuries were reported. A month ago a party stafer died in a similar incident against a HDP office in Izmir.
Istanbul (AsiaNews/Agencies) - For the second time in less than a month, an office of the Turkish opposition pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has been attacked. Shots were fired at the local branch in Marmaris, a city in the Aegean province of Muğla, yesterday. According to initial information no one was injured and the assailant has reportedly already been arrested.
A person armed with a shotgun targeted the district office in the early hours of the morning. The assailant, 28-year-old A.T.D., was identified and apprehended by the police. He had been involved in a similar attack on the Hdp headquarters in 2018 and was on trial for "damaging property".
Interviewed by Bianet Güven Göknar, co-chairman of the Hdp in Marmaris, reports that more than 100 bullets were fired during the attack. The assailant entered, covered the camera and fired five shotgun magazines'. He used a type of ammunition called a 'dumdum bullet' and fired 'more than a hundred shots', shattering 'windows, tables. There are 15 bulletsin the fridge alone," he added.
"It is a planned attack with the aim of frightening and intimidating. First Izmir, then Marmari, these are no coincidences," Göknar said, recalling last month's attack on Izmir's provincial headquarters, in which a woman affiliated with the party died, first tortured and then shot dead. The victim's name was Deniz Poyraz and her murderer Onur Gencer, close to the nationalist forces and already known to have fought against the Kurds in Syria in the past.
Commenting on yesterday's attack, the office of the deputy governor of Marmaris defined the assailant as a "mentally unstable" person. This is a way - Göknar continued - to cover up responsibility for the crime. They said the same thing after the murder of Deniz Poyraz. This is a way to protect the assailants." "We claim democracy in this country. They cannot intimidate us. We will not give up on this country" he concludes.
The recent wave of repression and violence against opposition parties has also raised concerns in the European Parliament, whose members adopted a resolution condemning Ankara last week by 603 votes to two. According to MEPs, there is a "terrible" human rights situation in Turkey, coupled with a "continuous erosion of democracy and the rule of law".