AKP MP who incited anti-Hürriyet protesters requests personal security guard

Nurettin Kurt – ANKARA

Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy Abdurrahim Boynukalın, who delivered a fiery speech addressing hundreds of protesters who attacked daily Hürriyet last week, has filed a request with the Ankara Governor’s Office to be assigned a personal security guard as he said he feels “under threat.”

“I’ve received [death] threats. There is a lot going on, but there is no need to speak out on it,” Boynukalın told daily Hürriyet, confirming that he had asked the Ankara Governor’s Office for a personal guard. 

Boynukalın delivered a controversial speech addressing a group that attacked Hürriyet’s headquarters in Istanbul on Sept. 6, which was captured on video and later went viral. Video footage taken since has also emerged, in which he can be heard threatening Hürriyet journalists and expressing his regret that they were “never beaten up before.”

“They have never had a beating. Our mistake was to never have beaten them up. If only we had beaten them up,” Boynukalın can be seen saying in the footage, in which he also mocked Hürriyet editor-in-chief Sedat Ergin and senior columnist Ahmet Hakan for their reactions after around 200 assailants smashed the front windows of Hürriyet’s office building with stones and clubs.