Turkish police ‘mistakenly’ raid HDP co-chair’s home

ISTANBUL

DHA Photo

Police in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakır have mistakenly raided the apartment of the Kurdish problem-focused Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş, citing misleading information regarding a smuggling case from an anonymous informer. 

Plain clothes police officers arrived at Demirtaş’s house in the Kayacık district of Diyarbakır on May 9, saying they were looking for an individual who is being pursued for fuel smuggling. 

According to media reports, a scuffle erupted between the police officers and Demirtaş’s security guards when the police attempted to search the house. 

Demirtaş was home at the time and explained the mistake to the policemen, reports indicated.

Police headquarters in Diyarbakır opened an investigation when news of the raid broke. The initial findings reportedly revealed that the anonymous informer on the phone had described the address of the suspect’s apartment by saying it was in the same building as Demirtaş’s home, but the officer took note of the address incorrectly. 

“The informer did not know the apartment number for the wanted individual who lives across the hall from Selahattin Demirtaş. So [the informer] mentioned Demirtaş in order to make it easier for officers to locate the individual. However, this information was not shared with our officers in the field due to the negligence of the telephone operator,” read a statement issued by the Diyarbakır Police Department. 

While no action was taken regarding the officers who raided the apartment, the operator has been suspended.