Four people were shot dead in southern Turkey on Thursday during an election campaign visit to a mainly Kurdish town by an MP from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's ruling party.
İbrahim Halil Yıldız, a member of parliament from the ruling AKP party, was visiting shops in the Suruç district of Şanlıurfa province when a fight broke out between his entourage and shopkeepers.
The MP escaped unharmed, his brother, a man and two people from the opposing side were killed.
Eight people were also wounded in the shooting.
'KURDISH PARTY OFFICIAL, SON WERE MURDERED IN THE HOSPITAL'
Servet Gören, the parliamentary main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) chair in Suruç district, alleged that Esvet Şenyaşar and his son were murdered at the hospital where they were sent following the fight between the two groups. According to the reports, Esvet Şenyaşar was an official of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), a local affiliate of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).
"MP İbrahim Halil Yılmaz and his brothers entered a shop. As the shopkeeper reacted, a gunfight erupted. The father and his son who were sent to the hospital were murdered there," Gören said.
Unconfirmed reports blamed bodyguards of the MP for the attack, after he was met with hostility during the visit to the shopkeepers. State-run Anadolu news agency, AKP government's mouthpiece, described it as an attack against the AKP party. According to the Mezapotamya news agency, deputy Yıldız’s bodyguards were firing shots after the dispute.
MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: THERE IS LACK OF SAFETY AT THE HOSPITAL
Meanwhile, the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) has released a statement regarding the incident. The statement says that the attacks have continued in the state hospital in Suruç, adding that there is lack of safety at the hospital considering that the two deaths by attack took place at the hospital. The medical association argues that ambulance service for the wounded was also prevented.
The statement calls on the Ministry of Health and the Şanlıurfa governorate to take the required measurements for helping the health centres to carry out their service in the region.
Şebnem Korur Fincancı, a forensic science expert, shared footage, showing a broken camera at the hospital, on her Twitter account. “The cameras have been damaged at the hospital in Suruç. The attack seems planned!” she said.
Suruç’da hastanede kameralar tahrip edilmiş, saldırı planlı görünüyor! pic.twitter.com/p3xIhNkBpr
— Sebnem KorurFincanci (@SKorurFincanci) 14 Haziran 2018
Police detained around 10 people.
HDP: SOME ARE TRYING TO INCITE THE PEOPLE WITH PROVOCATIONS
"We are faced with very sad events with just days to go before June 24," said the HDP's co-leader Pervin Buldan. "We see that some are trying to incite the people with provocations," she added, condemning those behind the killings.
ERDOĞAN ACCUSES HDP
"An elder brother of our MP has been killed by PKK supporters. This incident is an obvious example depicting the PKK and the HDP's strategy to grow with the Kurds' blood. We have no problem with our Kurdish brothers, but we have a problem with the PKK. I believe that our Kurdish brothers will spoil their game," President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said.
Erdoğan on Monday, less than two weeks ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections, said his AKP government was pressing an operation against bases of outlawed Kurdish militants in both Qandil and Sinjar regions in northern Iraq with intense air strikes that were far from over.
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said the AKP delegation was targeted in "an attack planned before the visit."
"Details to follow...
