CHP’s Tanrıkulu on İzmir attack: Ground prepared for racist fascists

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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Parliamentary Human Rights Commission Deputy Chair and main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) İstanbul MP Sezgin Tanrıkulu held a speech at the General Assembly of the Parliament yesterday (June 22) and talked about the killing of HDP's Deniz Poyraz in an armed attack targeting the İzmir office of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) on June 17.

"This time, I am warning from the rostrum of the Parliament: Stop making antagonizing, polarizing, dividing, separating, grudging and targeting remarks against the Kurds," said Sezgin Tanrıkulu.

"We are faced with a grave incident and this gravity must be addressed," Tanrıkulu stated further, underlining that the attack on the HDP office in İzmir should be considered within three frameworks:

'Language of politics paved the way for attacks'

"The first one is the political culture preceding this incident. The language of politics - unfortunately - developed in such a way that it targeted and antagonized the HDP and the opposition as a whole; it produced hate speech against them. We, dozens of times, said that this language was not right, there were definitely addressees of this language on the street and they would take action; we warned politicians about it dozens of times.

"In fact, our Party Chair [Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu], İYİ Party Chair [Meral Akşener] TİP MP Barış Atay and several journalists were attacked on the street. The reason was this language and targeting remarks."

'Behavior of police, judiciary unacceptable'

Referring to the killing of Deniz Poyraz within this context, Sezgin Tanrıkulu then moved on to mention the second framework through which the attack on the HDP in İzmir should be addressed:

"The second framework is the attitude taken by the security forces and the judiciary during this incident. Look, I mean, there is an intelligence that watches us 24/7, there is the security, there is a tent set up in front of the political party. Everyone is under surveillance, everyone is tracked. A suspect who entered and left that building several times, acted suspiciously and enrolled in a course was not followed or kept under surveillance.

"And during the incident, even though the incident was happening, the arrival of other security forces was awaited for 15-20 minutes. It was as if the ground had been prepared for this massacre to be carried out.

"We know how he was caught right after the incident. Look, the security forces who inflict all types of violence on the opposition on the street embraced this murderer with a great kindness and compassion, asking him, 'What is your name, brother?' This has escaped no one's notice.

"As for the attitude of the judiciary... He was held in detention for only 20 hours. I am against long periods of detention, but there is a person who committed a murder. What are the forces behind him, what are his relations? Even his house was searched after he was arrested.

"Is it how they treat an ordinary citizen of ours or a dissident? Look, Boğaziçi University students were held in detention for 4-5 days. You cannot get information from a suspect after you send him or her to jail. Why was he detained for 20 hours? Why were all his relations not inquired?"

'Legitimization by politics is the most dangerous'

Talking about the third framework within this context, main opposition CHP MP Sezgin Tanrıkulu briefly said:

"The third framework and the most terrible of all is that the politics and some groups legitimize this murder through the political and ethnic identity of our deceased sister. Look, this is the most dangerous of all.

"This legitimization, the legitimization through the ethnic and political identity of a victim without a court ruling will only encourage this racist, fascist murderer and lead to a climate for the ones who will follow suit. This is extremely dangerous, we cannot know where it will lead."

Reiterating the necessity of inquiring about the incident, Tanrıkulu said, "The ground was prepared for racist fascists, as it were."

The CHP MP also noted that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) "did not sufficiently react against the incident and did not show that it would stand away from the antagonizing language of hate."

Tanrıkulu condemned the massacre one more time and said, "May our deceased sister rest in peace." (KÖ/SD)