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The gunman, named as Onur Gencer, attempted to set the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) İzmir Branch office on fire, and murdered Deniz Poyraz (38), a Kurdish woman from the Mardin (Merdin) province of Turkey whom he had taken hostage. Poyraz was one of the volunteers who did cleaning and cooking duties at the party building, and was also an employee. The assailant has been taken into custody.
According to the Mesopotamia Agency (MA), police prevented Poyraz’s family from entering the HDP party building. Her mother said, “They killed my daughter for no reason.”
“They won’t let me see my daughter’s body, Deniz is gone, but Deniz will return a thousand-fold,” mother Fehime Poyraz said.
After the attack HDP party members and supporters began to gather in front of the building. Thousands of people gathered around the building, which was blockaded by the police, blaming the government for the attack, and chanting slogans: “HDP is the People, the People are Here!” and “AKP will Answer to the People!”
Republican People’s Party (CHP) İzmir Branch President Deniz Yücel also visited the HDP party branch office to offer his condolences. Yücel said: ”Mahfuz Güleryüz (HDP executıve committee member) told me a while ago that they had alerted the İzmir police to a possible attack. If this is true, then the situation is far more serious. If the police did not take precautions, then this goes far beyond mere negligence.”
