Armed attack staged on Turkish journalist’s house in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

AA Photo

An armed attack was staged on pro-government journalist Cem Küçük’s house in Istanbul’s Güngören district late Feb. 20. 

Küçük, who is a columnist for daily Yeni Şafak, said his brother was living in the house. 

“The house in Güngören, which I own, but where my brother lives, was subjected to an armed attack. A shotgun was used in the attack,” Küçük wrote on his Twitter account, adding that anti-terror police were carrying out crime scene investigations.

“The windows were broken and there were bullet marks in the living room,” he said.

Police investigations revealed that four bullets had been fired at the house in the Akıncılar neighborhood. Anti-terror police and crime scene investigation teams were dispatched to the area immediately after the attack. 

The police launched efforts to apprehend the suspects involved in the attack. 

Speaking about the incident, Küçük told journalists that the shooting “did not look like a coincidence.”

“When I was on TV at 7 p.m., my brother’s wife called me. She told me the house was attacked and there were bullet marks. She and my two nieces were at home during the shooting. According to police investigations, it seems that four bullets were fired. They are evaluating to see if it was a terror attack. It doesn’t look like it could be coincidence. It was done intentionally,” he said. 

Küçük said he owned the house but his brother had been living in it for the last 10 years, noting that it looked like it could be an attack done by a terrorist group. 

“It’s a house that I visit from time to time. Istanbul police chief Mustafa Çalışkan and Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu are conducting detailed examinations. If they want to scare us with terrorist groups and if this is an act that was committed to discourage us, it won’t discourage someone like me,” he said. 

He also thanked everyone who showed support after the attack.

“I thank our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Minister Soylu and Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ for supporting me since the very beginning of the incident. In addition, I sincerely thank those who called and texted me to show support,” he said on Twitter on Feb. 21.