MHP leader rules out HDP assailant's ties to his party after 'grey wolf' photos

Photo: AA/File

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Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli has made a statement on Twitter after the armed attack on the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) that left a party employee dead in İzmir yesterday (June 17).

The assailant's Instagram account includes photos of him showing the "grey wolf" sign, a symbol used by MHP supporters. He also has photos in Syria, apparently in the territory controlled by Turkey-backed groups.

"No one has the right to implicate the MHP over a villain who displays a grey wolf sign and publish it on social media," Bahçeli wrote on Twitter last night.

CLICK - All reports on the HDP attack

While not offering condolences to the HDP or the family of the person who lost her life, Bahçeli said the attack was a "provocation targeting our internal peace."

"The attack on the HDP İzmir building is a bloody rehearsal, it's a treacherous plot that tests the nerve ends of the society," he wrote.

The assailant's "ties, connections, and network of contacts should be investigated and revealed," and those who ordered the attack should be identified, Bahçeli wrote.

"I believe our Kurdish brothers and sisters won't fall into this trap," he noted.

The assailant stormed the HDP's İzmir Provincial Organization and shot the only person in the office at the time. Had he came about half an hour later, he would have committed a "big massacre" as the party had a scheduled meeting, HDP Co-Chair Pervin Buldan said yesterday.

Onur Gencer, the assailant who was detained shortly after the attack, said in the police interrogation that "If there had been others, I would have shot at them as well."

Gencer said he carried out the attack because of his hatred towards the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The HDP is accused by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally MHP of being a political extension of the PKK.

The party also has a closure case against it because of its alleged ties to the PKK. Dozens of its politicians are currently in prison, charged with or convicted of "terrorism-related" crimes.

HDP and other opposition parties have blamed the ruling alliance of inciting the attack by their discourse against the HDP. (AS/VK)