Protest against attack on HDP members in Istanbul

An armed attack targeted the Istanbul district branch of the HDP in Bahçelievler on Tuesday. According to initial information, an unknown person entered the premises and asked about the requirements for membership in the party. When HDP member Ramazan Dişarı served him tea, the man poured the tea on him and attacked him with a knife. HDP member Aziz Şimşek was also injured when he tried to stop the attacker. The man then fled to a nearby bakery, where he was picked up by the police and taken to an unknown location.

Speaking about the incident, Ramazan Dişarı said: “I gave him tea and he poured the tea against my chest. Then he hurled insults and said: ‘I have come to kill you.’ He took his one hand to his gun and attacked me with the knife in his other hand. I was injured in the chest. At the same time, those present tried to stop the attacker. At that moment, he stabbed another colleague. I grabbed the knife and suffered a cut on my hand. My friend was also slightly injured on the hand.”

HDP members protest in the district against the attack, which took place just one day before the start of the trial of the murderer of HDP member Deniz Poyraz. Poyraz was murdered by a Turkish fascist on 17 June 2021 in a similar attack on the Izmir provincial HDP association. Police try to break up the protest in Istanbul as crowds hold a sit-in. HDP Istanbul executive Ilknur Birol said that her party will not retreat even in the face of murder and violence. “These attacks are taking place systematically. Nevertheless, we are not afraid and we will not be intimidated. We will not obey,” she said.