Five suspects arrested for killing of MHP advisor amid scuffles outside courthouse

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

Police deployed in front of the Küçükmece courthouse resorted to water cannons after some of the protesters hurled stones. DHA photo

Supporters of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) gathered late Jan. 29 in front of an Istanbul courthouse, where eight suspects in the Jan. 26 killing of an MHP advisor were set to appear before a judge. 

Five of the suspects were arrested while three others were released on probation upon the court’s ruling, as tension rose outside where MHP members protested against the armed assault on the party’s freshly inaugurated campaign office in Istanbul’s Esenyurt district. Cengiz Akyıldız, an advisor at the party's provincial HQ, was killed in the attack, while seven others were injured.

Police deployed in front of the Küçükmece courthouse resorted to water cannons after some of the protesters hurled stones, Doğan News Agency reported. Some of the protesters cut across the nearby E-5 highway, one of the main arteries of the European side, as they ran to escape the police intervention.

The report also said some protesters chanting slogans climbed on top of a police riot control vehicle (TOMA) at the site, after the liquid in the truck’s reservoir ran out. 

The gun assault has raised security concerns ahead of the March 30 local elections. Another gun attack also targeted the municipal building of Şişli, a district whose mayor, Mustafa Sarıgül, is set to run for the Istanbul mayoralty for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).