AKP’s district office in Diyarbakır turns out to be attacked by party executive’s nephew

* Photo: Screenshot of video

Click to read the article in Turkish

An unidentified person threw a molotov cocktail at the Hani district office of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Diyarbakır at 8.55 p.m. on June 18.

A person who had come in front of the AKP Hani office, lit the molotov cocktail that he had with him, threw it at the party building and ran away. While some furniture has been damaged in the incident, the people who saw the flames reported the attack to the police.

While no one has died or got wounded, the police watched the security camera footage and caught the suspects. Assailant Mahmut Evren and Şemdin Barin, who reportedly aided Evren, were detained.

While the two were taken to the Hani District Security Directorate, the investigation into the incident is reportedly still ongoing.

The relative of a person from AKP

As reported by Mezopotamya Agency (MA), Şemdin Darin, one of the detained, has turned out to be the nephew of Ali Barin, who is currently an executive at the AKP Hani District Organization in Diyarbakır.

According to the MA's report, a similar incident happened in December 2020, when two hostile families from the AKP had an armed conflict on the street. While three people were wounded in that incident, the AKP district office was also targeted by pump rifles. Three people were taken into custody by the police following the incident. One of the detained people turned out to be the nephew of AKP district executive Zeki Uçak.

AKP's Aydın: Similar to the attack in İzmir

Announcing the recent attack on his social media account, AKP Diyarbakır Provincial Chair Muhammet Şerif Aydın has alleged that the attack on the AKP Hani office was "related" to the attack on the İzmir office of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) that claimed the life of Deniz Poyraz.

CLICK - Attack on HDP İzmir office: Party worker Deniz Poyraz killed

"An attack similar to the heinous attack on the İzmir HDP Provincial building was attempted to be carried out against the AK Party Hani District organization building in our Diyarbakır tonight," said Aydın.

1- Dün İzmir HDP İl binasına yönelik yapılan iğrenç saldırının bir benzeri, bu gece Diyarbakır'ımızda Ak Parti Hani İlçe teşkilatımızın binasına yönelik olarak yapılmaya çalışıldı. pic.twitter.com/p2RfrzBDNZ

— M.Şerif AYDIN (@mserifaydin) June 18, 2021

Making a statement on Twitter, Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gül has said, "I condemn the heinous attack on our AK Party Diyarbakır Hani district office. Those having a design against our peace, fraternity and unity cannot attain their dark aims. We will foist the traps of provocateurs."

AKP's Hani Mayor İbrahim Lake has also said, "The dark forces who want to sow discord again will be unable to disturb the peace of our people; they cannot reach their aims. I condemn this attack."

AKP Spokesperson Ömer Çelik has condemned the attack on his social media account: "We condemn the attack on our party's Diyarbakır Hani building. We have the strength to defeat all types of provocation."

Statement by the Governor's Office

The Diyarbakır Governor's Office has made a statement about the incident on its official website. Recalling that the Hani District Building of the AKP was attacked at around 9.10 p.m on June 18, the Office has announced that "M.E., who has been detected to be the perpetrator of the incident, and Ş.B., who was on the lookout during the incident, have been caught and detained upon the instruction of the Chief Public Prosecutor."

"While no significant damage to property or any losses of life have occurred in the attack, the investigation into the issue is still ongoing with the coordination of the Hani Chief Public Prosecutor's Office." (TP/SD)