Eyewitness accounts reported by Medine Mamedoğlu of Jin News reveal that one of the attackers specifically threatened women with death if they continued to use the pool. One of the attackers stated, “We killed your ancestors, their graves are still unknown, you don’t know who you are dealing with.”
A victim described the ongoing tension: “The situation hasn’t calmed down. After the incident, someone from the complex approached us with a knife. My mother fainted and we took her to the hospital. The police came but left without making any arrests. We’re still dealing with this. Despite the pool being closed, they threatened us for even trying to use it. They openly supported their past massacres and threatened us for minutes, saying, ‘We are Hezbollah, no one here will survive.'”
Police arrived at the chaotic scene but instead of detaining the assailants reportedly suggested that the residents resolve the issue themselves since they live in the same complex.
Hüda-Par, an ally of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), is considered the successor to Turkish Hezbollah. Groups affiliated with Hüda-Par have been blamed for several recent attacks in Diyarbakır, Turkey’s largest Kurdish-majority city. In recent weeks, members of an Islamist extremist group attacked students of a dance school and vandalised businesses under the pretext of supporting Palestine. Hüda-Par supported the attack on the dance group and organised an anti-LGBT rally in the park where the dance school held events.
Hüda-Par, an Islamist party advocating for Sharia law, is widely regarded as the political wing of Turkish Hezbollah, known for violent activities in the 1990s. Despite denying formal links, many former Hezbollah members are active within the party. Turkish journalists have previously reported strained relations between Hezbollah and the state since the early 2000s, noting the group’s involvement in torture and kidnappings under the National Intelligence Organisation’s (MİT) oversight.
Facing declining support, in recent elections the AKP allied with Hüda-Par to bolster votes in Kurdish-majority areas.
