The People’s Defense Forces (HPG) released a statement on Tuesday saying that they had “punished” Deryan Aktert, the district chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Dicle, Diyarbakir, “for his role in the massacre and killings of the AKP.”
Aktert was shot in his office Monday morning, the provincial governor’s office confirmed.
On Sunday, Aydın Muştu, the AKP’s district deputy leader in the Özalp district of Van, was shot and killed.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım denounced the killings.
“The PKK terror group has turned toward the AK Party organizations. The other day our Özalp deputy district head was slaughtered at his home, in front of his wife and children. Last night, our Dicle district head was killed at his own business,” he said during the AKP’s weekly parliamentary group meeting.
“The traitors should know this: The AK Party will not be defeated by your actions. Our government will pursue all incidents with determination to clear our country of all terror organizations.”
Figen Yüksekdag, co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, issued a statement condemning the killing “in the harshest terms.”
On September 14, Ahmet Budak, the AKP’s candidate in Hakkari in the November 2015 elections, was shot outside his home in Semdinli.
In a statement claiming responsibility, the HPG warned, “This action is a warning to all Kurds who collaborates [sic] with AKP government. All our people who do not want to be the instruments of genocidal policies should separate themselves from the AKP. Those who participate of genocidal [sic] activities will be targeted by our guerrilla forces.”
