Turkish police detain two over attack on nationalist party office in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

DHA Photo

Turkish police detained two people allegedly involved in an attack on the election bureau of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in Istanbul’s Sarıyer district, a security official said April 19.

A group of people came to the area in cars and threatened MHP supporters in the area at noon. MHP supporters called the police following the groups’ threats. 

Two attackers were captured along with their weapons, but three others managed to escape.

Five people reportedly attacked the Turkish opposition party’s bureau April 19 morning with guns and tried to cut down the party’s flags and posters, Anadolu Agency reported. Gunshots were also fired at the bureau several times during the opening of the election bureau in the Armutlu neighborhood of Sarıyer. 

As the police came to the area, one man started to fire his gun. The unidentified man was captured by the cameras shooting from the back of a car, Doğan News Agency reported. One police also fired into the air in response to the attackers, the agency reported. Crime scene officers collected bullets in the area after the shootings. 

Two party members were reportedly also beaten but there were no casualties or serious injuries in the incident. Police have launched an investigation.

The attack came after an armed attack on the headquarters of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Ankara on April 18. There were no casualties in the attack, which both the HDP and the government described as a provocation ahead of the June 7 election. Two suspects, believed to have been perpetrators of the attack, were taken to Ankara Courthouse by anti-terror police officers on April 19 in order to be questioned by a prosecutor. 

Approximately 56 million Turkish citizens will vote on June 7 in the country’s 25th general elections to elect 550 members of the Turkish parliament.