MHP's Bahçeli calls killed HDP member 'a militia accomplice'

Photo: AA

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Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli, an ally of the government, has said that the person killed in the armed assault on the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) office in İzmir last week was "aiding and abetting terrorists."

An armed person stormed the party's provincial organization and shot the only person in the office, Deniz Poyraz (20), a party employee.

It surfaced after the killing that the assailant has Instagram photos displaying the "grey wolf" sign, a symbol used by MHP supporters. He also posted photos with weapons in Syria, apparently in the territory controlled by Turkey-backed groups.

Having previously ruled out the assailant's ties to his party, Bahçeli suggested that he was "not a lunatic" and "was not acting alone."

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"Please pay attention to this, such a day was picked that no HDP executives were in the building and even a planned meeting was canceled. Just as in the Ankara explosion, just as in the Suruç massacre, HDP members suddenly vanished.

"Who knows why, instead of the person who serves tea, their daughter came to the building for help on the day the incident happened.

"The killer's photographs taken while displaying the grey wolf sign and holding weapons were immediately served as if they were being kept ready somewhere."

Bahçeli said the perpetrator's connections and whether the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was involved in the incident should be investigated.

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He then accused both Deniz Poyraz and her father of "terrorism."

"I'll tell you who the killed person, Deniz Poyraz, was: She was in charge of the PKK's rural recruitment, a militia accomplice in the ring that sends PKK sympathizers who want to go to the mountains.

"A militia accomplice is a terrorist who works to recruit lonely people in towns and cities and aids and abets the organization's treacherous acts."

Bahçeli also accused Poyraz's father of making propaganda for the PKK in statements after Deniz Poyraz's death. He had called her daughter "the Deniz of Kurdistan."

The closure case

Also talking about the closure case against the HDP, Bahçeli welcomed the Constitutional Court's acceptance of the indictment charging the party with having connections to the PKK.

"The HDP should be closed," he said, adding that the party's "separatist" executives should stand trial.

The top court had turned down a previous indictment in late March. (AS/VK)