Ex-MP uncovers new footage of attack on Turkey’s main opposition leader

Journalist Barıs Yarkadas, who is also an ex-MP from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), has shared new footage on social media of the attack that targeted the CHP leader during a soldier’s funeral in Ankara.

According to a report on Sputnik Turkiye news portal, the footage shows people, mostly press members, being crushed in a stampede that occurred
when CHP leader Kılıcdaroglu was attacked by dozens of men during the funeral on Sunday.

Deniz Demir, a key advisor to the CHP head, is also seen in the video guarding Kılıcdaroglu against a serious injury.

Sharing the footage on his official Twitter account on Monday, Yarkadas said that it was sent to him by a journalist, who works for a news channel that
refused to feature the video of the attack.

“New footage of the vile attack on our chairman Mr. Kılıcdaroglu. Never forget it; never let others forget it!” he added.

The attack on Sunday took place in Cubuk district of Ankara during the funeral of Private Yener Kirikci, who lost his life in a clash between Turkish security
forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Turkey-Iraq border area.

All of the nine suspects, who were detained as part of a probe launched by the Cubuk Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, were released with six of them being placed under judicial supervision.

Osman Sarigun, one of the perpetrators of the attack who was later identified as a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), became a national symbol of political polarization in Turkey.

Hero status for attacker from AKP supporters

Supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) treated Sarigun as a hero following this detention, to the
fury of opposition.

A hashtag was opened on his name and ruling party members and supporters objected to his arrest through social media.

Soon after it was confirmed that Sarigun was an AKP member, party’s spokesperson Omer Celik announced that he would be dismissed due to the attack.

Following Sarigun’s release, Metin Kulunk, ex-AKP lawmaker and a close associate of President Tayyip Erdogan, stated that he does not agree the decision to bar Sarigun from the AKP membership, saying that such a move would “upset the Turkish nation”.

President Erdogan and his ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli’s rough discourse during the election period that aligned opposition parties with terror organizations contributed to a politically polarized environment in Turkey.

Critics claim that Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, who ordered governors to keep CHP officials out of soldiers’ funerals in 2018, paved the way for the attack targeting Kılıcdaroglu.

Numerous government critics and opposition members have called on Soylu to resign his post in the aftermath of the attack.

Treatment of attacker as a hero exposes political divisions in Turkey

The post Ex-MP uncovers new footage of attack on Turkey’s main opposition leader appeared first on IPA NEWS.

from IPA NEWS https://ipa.news/2019/04/27/ex-mp-uncovers-new-footage-of-attack-on-turkeys-main-opposition-leader/