House of local AKP politician attacked in Van, no casualties reported

VAN – Doğan News Agency

AA Photo

The house of a ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) youth branch head in the Muradiye district of the eastern province of Van was attacked with a hand-made explosive by a group of assailants late on Oct. 25. 

Three unidentified suspects threw a hand-made explosive at the two-story house of Selçuk Yay before fleeing the scene. No casualties were reported after the attack but a wall of the house was damaged. 

As police teams initiated an operation to catch the attackers, Muradiye District Gov. Mehmet Fatih Çelikel visited Yay to express his support. 

AKP Muradiye district head İbrahim Vanlı said the attacks targeting local politicians do not scare the party, adding that “no one is alone in this district, it is a region of tribes.” 

The attack on Yay’s house is the latest in a series of attacks suspected of being carried out by outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in the region.

Three AKP politicians were killed by the PKK in the east and southeastern provinces of Turkey in recent attacks. 

PKK militants opened fire on Deryan Aktert, the AKP’s chairman in the Dicle district of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, in his office on Oct. 10.       

On Oct. 9, another local AKP politician was killed by a group of PKK militants in the Özalp district of the eastern province of Van. According to a statement from the Van Governor’s office, Aydın Muştu, the party’s district deputy head, was shot dead after he resisted the group’s attempt to seize his minibus outside his home.

Another politician, Ahmet Budak, who was the AKP’s Hakkari candidate in the Nov. 1, 2015, elections, was shot dead as he was returning home from a visit to mark the Eid al-Adha holiday with his son, in front of his house in the Şemdinli district of the eastern province of Hakkari. 

Meanwhile, on Oct. 26 the Turkish Interior Ministry issued a statement denying media reports that it was “arming” citizens against possible attacks, saying its newly announced plan to take measures protecting local politicians in the eastern and southeastern provinces was a justified response to the rising attacks.  

The statement added that “current security measures” of the state to protect its citizens were being deployed under “its own rules.”