President makes no mention of HDP attack in speech

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President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan did not mention the armed assault on the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in a speech in Antalya today (June 18).

An armed assailant stormed the HDP's Provincial Organization in İzmir, killing the only person at the office, Deniz Poyraz (20), a party employee.

Detained by police shortly after the incident, the assailant confessed that he had killed Poyraz. He carried out the attack because he hated the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and he acted alone, he said.

After social media photos showing the assailant displaying the nationalistic "grey wolf" sign surfaced, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli, an ally of Erdoğan, ruled out his ties to the party.

Government officials mostly remained silent about the incident while AKP Spokesperson Ömer Çelik condemned the incident on social media.

The HDP and other political parties have accused the AKP-MHP alliance of encouraging such attacks on the HDP by constantly framing it as an "extension of the PKK."

CLICK - 'İzmir attack is a result of government's criminalization policy against HDP'

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

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The diplomacy forum

At the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Erdoğan talked about the coronavirus pandemic, the Eastern Mediterranean issue and the Syria crisis.

The UN Security Council put "the biggest health crisis in history" on its agenda 100 days after the outbreak erupted, Erdoğan said during his opening speech at the three-day forum.

Urging world leaders not to permit "vaccine nationalism" to take hold and not to repeat the same mistakes as the pandemic progresses, Erdoğan said that the virus outbreak had "sharpened the injustice" in the world.

On the issue of energy resources in the Eastern Mediterranean, Erdoğan said that it was in the hands of all parties involved to ensure that these "lead to cooperation instead of confrontation."

When talking about Syria, Erdoğan said, in a slip of the tongue, that "We haven't been able to receive the support we expected from the international community in our efforts to discredit Syria." (AÖ/VK)