Gunmen kill one in attack on Kurdish party campaign in Turkey
Gunmen have attacked a campaign vehicle belonging to a pro-Kurdish party in Turkey, killing one person, as the country’s general elections draw closer.
The shooting attack was carried out on Wednesday in the Karliova district of the Kurdish-majority province of Bingol in southeastern Turkey.
The governor’s office said on Thursday that the 35-year-old driver of the car was found dead near the minibus hired by the People’s Democratic Party (HDP).
Authorities have launched a massive investigation into the incident.
Meanwhile, clashes erupted on Thursday after around 1,000 Turkish nationalists stormed an election rally by the HDP in the northeastern city of Erzurum. Around 2,000 HDP supporters had assembled to hear the party leader Selahattin Demirtas speak at the rally.
Media reports said that the nationalist protesters broke through the barricades of the security forces who fired tear gas and used water cannon to disperse the crowd.
Demirtas, meanwhile, urged that the rally continue, saying, "There are only three days left. We will continue to work with patience, without allowing provocations."
Violence has marred the campaign for the June 7 parliamentary elections in Turkey.
Last month, blasts hit two local HDP offices in the southern city of Adana and neighboring Mersin. Six people were injured.
The motive for the latest attack is not clear, but the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) frequently accuses HDP of links to Kurdish militants fighting for autonomy in southeastern Turkey.
If the HDP, which is attracting liberal and left-wing voters in Turkey, reaches the 10-percent threshold of total votes it needs to enter parliament, it will prevent the ruling AKP from winning a supermajority in parliament.
The AKP, however, requires the supermajority to introduce a new constitution and change Turkey’s parliamentary system into a presidential system.
Turkey slipped into a political crisis in December 2013, when dozens of government officials and prominent businessmen close to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were arrested as part of a graft probe. Erdogan was prime minister at the time. The scandal, which seriously challenged Erdogan’s grip on power, also forced a cabinet rejig.
MR/HSN/HMV
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