‘Racist attacks are a result of government’s policy of impunity’

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The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) released a written statement about the armed attack on Kurdish workers in Afyon yesterday (September 14).

In its statement about the attack that claimed the life of one worker and wounded two others, the HDP has underlined that "the policies and statements of the government cause an increase in racists attacks."

'It has been hardly a month since Sakarya attack'

The statement of the party has also referred to the attack on Kurdish seasonal agricultural workers in Sakarya province in early September:

"While it had been hardly a month since Kurdish workers were attacked and lynched in Sakarya, a racist attack took place in Afyon this time.

"Kurdish workers doing construction business in the city were opened fire. Construction worker Özkan T. has lost his life as a result of this attack while Fırat T. and Emrah Ö. have been wounded.

'Statements of the government lead to this picture'

"The antagonistic domestic-foreign policies of the government against Kurdish people and its mindset breeding a lynch culture in society lead to this picture that we have today.

"The reason why a young Kurdish worker has lost his life in Afyon is the fact that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) do not abandon their hate speech and do not pay heed to our numerous warnings about this issue. The racist attacks on Kurds are a result of the government's policy of impunity.

"We will follow up the racist attack in Afyon. We will not let it be normalized that the ones who carried out racist attacks on Kurds are not penalized."

What happened?

An armed attack targeted Kurdish workers in Turkey's Aegean province of Afyon on September 13. While construction worker Özkan T. lost his life in the incident, Fırat T. and Emrah Ö. were wounded.

The workers reportedly left the district of Erciş in Turkey's eastern province of Van to work in Afyon. As reported by Mezopotamya Agency (MA), the incident happened at around 7.30 p.m. An unidentified person opened fire on brothers doing construction business. His shots claimed the life of 25-year-old worker Özkan T. and wounded workers Fırat T. and Emrah Ö.

The attack in Sakarya

A racist attack was carried out on Kurdish agricultural workers in Sakarya on September 4, 2020. The workers went there from the southeastern province of Mardin. After the Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reported on the incident, the attack sparked a public outrage.

In a statement, the Governor's Office of Sakarya denied the attack and alleged that the footage in question was from a former attack in Kocaeli.

The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office of Kocaeli issued a detention warrant for two people over this racist attack. Security forces started working to catch the suspects, who were then taken into custody. However, the suspects were released after their they deposed. (TP/SD)