Death toll rises 32 in Suruç attack: Demirtaş

ANKARA

CİHAN photo

The death toll in the July 20 Suruç attack has risen to 32 according to fresh information, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş told reporters on July 21. 

“This pain is huge. But frankly, statements after the attack and offense against our party are as painful as the massacre,” he said ahead of a party meeting to discuss the attack in a municipal cultural center in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa’s Suruç district.

The media is pursuing an “uglier” agenda than those who conducted the massacre, he said. 

Demirtaş said they would increase security measures at their party buildings and called on civic society and citizens to do the same, noting that members of the Islamic State and the Levant (ISIL) are everywhere. 

Demirtaş criticized pro-government media outlets for attacking the HDP on the grounds that they party had made a call to arm themselves.

“The HDP will succeed despite these dastards” and even though the pro-government has displayed the same mentality as ISIL, he said.

After the Suruç attack, Demirtaş called on his party’s provincial and district headquarters to “take their own security measures.”

“Now, our people are in the position of taking their own security,” Demirtaş told TV broadcaster Med Nûçe on July 20. In a written statement, the HDP also said they would discuss taking their own security measures at a party meeting on July 21.

The HDP co-chair also said the state has records on young people who make press statements.