Turkish deputy prime minister’s attacker hit by a citizen

KAHRAMANMARAŞ – Cihan News Agency

A protester attempting to attack Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ was stopped by security forces at a ceremony in Nevşehir. AA photo

A journalist who hit Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ last month during an Alevi festival has been attacked by a man in his hometown.

Hüseyin Satı hit Bozdağ in the chest on Aug. 16 during a ceremony to commemorate Alevi-Bektaşi figure Hacı Bektaş Veli in the Central Anatolian province of Nevşehir. A month after the incident, 39-year-old storekeeper Yusuf Hayto encountered Satı in the Pazarcık district of the southern province of Kahramanmaraş, where the two live.

When Hayto asked him why he had assaulted the deputy prime minister, a physical altercation between the two then ensued.

The fight ended at the police station as both filed complaints against each other.

“I asked him, ‘Why are you depicting our district of Pazarcık [negatively] to the rest of Turkey?’ When he told me it’s his business and began to use vulgar language, I lost myself,” Hayto said.

He accused Satı of damaging the image of Pazarcık’s 30,000 residents.