Man who attacked İYİ Party executive arrested

ISTANBUL

A man who attacked the Istanbul provincial head of the opposition İYİ (Good) Party has been arrested, the Istanbul Governor’s Office has said in a statement.

The assailant punched Buğra Kavuncu on Aug. 20 on the street in Istanbul’s Bakırköy district as Kavuncu left a TV broadcaster’s building after attending a show.

The assailant, identified only as O.S., fled the scene after the attack, the statement said.

“Investigations revealed the identity of the suspect and he was detained in the Silivri district at 5:30 a.m. on Aug. 21.

A probe into the case is ongoing and we condemn this outrageous attack,” it added.

Prosecutors at the Bakırköy Court House demanded the assailant be arrested for intentional injury.

In his statement to prosecutors, the suspect identified himself as a “nationalist.”

“From his messages on social media, I thought he [Kavuncu] was a supporter of FETÖ. I disliked him because of his social media posts. I fled the scene in a taxi following the incident,” the assailant said.

He added that nobody guided him into attacking Kavuncu. “It was not a premediated attack, but it happened spontaneously,” he claimed.