According to MA the person in plain clothes entered the building and opened fire three times, broke the windows, and tried to set fire to the building. While the attacker was taken into custody, one person died. Party officials announced that the person who died had been taken hostage by the attacker.
Making a statement to Medya Haber, HDP Group Deputy Chairman Saruhan Oluç confirmed the incident and that the name of the murdered party member was Deniz Poyraz. MA reported that the woman who lost her life was part of volunteers who did cleaning and who also did cooking duties at the party building.
“The perpetrators and the instigators of this attack are well-known. The government and the provocateurs will be responsible if anything goes wrong,” the HDP said on Twitter. The latest reports say that the attacker, in his mid 20’s stated that he hated the PKK and this was the reason for his actions.
An assailant with a shotgun has attacked our office in İzmir. One of our party members was in the office during the incident. The perpetrator and the instigators of the attack are clear. The government will be responsible for any negative consequences. https://t.co/YGgO3lpbH5
— DEM Party English (@DemPartyEnglish) June 17, 2021
According to the testimonies of eyewitnesses in the region, gunshots were heard and the windows of the provincial building were broken during the incident. While the police closed some points to traffic in the Çankaya district of the city due to the incident, special operations police were also dispatched to the area.
HDP official, Mahfuz Güleryüz, following the attack said: “A person raids our provincial building at around 10:30am in the morning. We have a female friend working inside. Our building has been targeted for months. We have spoken about this to the police and talked to the governorship. We warned them that such a thing might happen. Noone did anything about it. Unfortunately, our predictions have turned out to be correct.”
The Izmir Mayor announced that the perpetrator is caught and that the incident will be investigated in detail.
