HDP Marmaris office attacked by gunman

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) office in Turkey’s Marmaris city was attacked early on Wednesday morning, marking the second attack on party offices in less than a month.

A gunman attacked the HDP’s Marmaris district office at around 6:20am, according to a statement from Mugla authorities. No injuries or casualties were reported.  

The suspect previously attacked the HDP office in 2018, it added. He is now in custody.

It comes less than a month after a woman was killed in an attack on the HDP office in Izmir. The attack was condemned by both ruling and opposition parties. 

The HDP has been under pressure for years, accused of being the political wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a charge the party denies. Members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) have called for the party's closure.

“The perpetrator of this attack is the government that made our party a target,” the HDP's Istanbul branch tweeted on Wednesday.

Hundreds of HDP members and supporters are under investigation or in jail, including Selahattin Demirtas, the HDP's former leader, along with his co-chair Figen Yuksekdag.

The Turkish Constitutional Court accepted an indictment requesting the closure of the HDP in late June.