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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Pervin Buldan said on Friday the rationale behind the attack that killed a woman at her party’s office on Thursday was the same reasoning that seeks the closure of the party.
Buldan spoke during the funeral of Deniz Poyraz, the daughter of an HDP employee who was shot dead at the HDP office in Izmir.
“The mentality that murdered Deniz is the same as [one] that pursues the HDP closure. At all costs, we will bring democracy, freedoms and justice and peace to the country,” Buldan said, as quoted in a Twitter post to the HDP’s English account.
Chief Public Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation, Bekir Sahin, filed a suit with the constitutional court in March, seeking the dissolution of the HDP and a ban on hundreds of its politicians. The indictment was rejected due to “procedural deficiencies.” He filed a new indictment against the party on June 8.
Mithat Sancar, co-chair of the HDP, also attended the funeral, claiming the death of Poyraz was planned.
“No one should say this is an isolated incident or an attack. This is a conscious and organized plan for chaos,” he said.
“This government and its allies prepared the ground for this murder with their hands and very own words. They targeted the Kurdish people, their representatives and the forces of democracy with the hateful atmosphere they created.”
The Thursday attack on the HDP and murder of Poyraz has been widely condemned in Turkey by HDP’s friends and opponents.
The alleged murderer, Onur Gencer, was officially arrested by a court on Friday. He has reportedly told police he was willing to kill more people.
“I have fired 10 shots at the HDP building. My purpose was to find a couple of people there, but only one person was there,” he has said in his testimony, Duvar News Agency reported.
The HDP has placed blame for the attack on the Justice and Development Party (AKP), the ruling party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and its ally the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
“It is the government that targets our party and our provincial organizations; it is the Ministry of Interior that directs the provocateurs,” the HDP stated on Thursday.
However, both the AKP and MHP have condemned the attack, with the MHP denying any links to the attack.
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