Assassination plots against HDP co-chair reported: Önder says

ISTANBUL

CİHAN Photo

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has received a number of reports of planned assassinations against the party’s co-chair, Selahattin Demirtaş, HDP Istanbul deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder has said. 

“We are being warned about extensive assassination plots against Demirtaş from serious sources. But we overcome our worries just by working more and being more cautious,” said Önder during an interview with Voice of America Radio.

He said they were not taking additional precautions to avert potential attacks as it “does not comply with the party’s perspective.”

“We think it does not fit our revolutionary perspective to multiply the amount of people around you or put security walls between you and the public. When we surround ourselves with security walls we distance ourselves from the public. For us, death is more commendable than putting barriers between us and the public,” said Önder.

The HDP Istanbul deputy is currently conducting his election campaign in Ankara without any police protection and only with a private car, along with two other people, similar to the way Demirtaş is campaigning.

Recently, bombs hit two local headquarters of the Kurdish problem-focused HDP in the southern provinces of Adana and Mersin, weeks before the June 7 general election. Hidden in a cargo parcel and a gift-packaged flower pot, the two bombs injured at least three people on May 18.