A series of fights in Şanlıurfa on Thursday between a ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) campaign team and the pro-Kurdish Democratic Regions Party (DBP) members left four dead including a brother of AKP deputy İbrahim Halil Yıldız and the son of DBP official Esvet Şenyaşar, the T24 news website reported.
According to the state-run Anadolu news agency, the fight started with an armed assault on the AKP members during a visit to local shopkeepers.
The Artı Gerçek news website, on the other hand, reported that when the AKP members were visiting a shop owned by Şenyaşar, a dispute erupted over products packaged in green, red and yellow.
Green, red and yellow are the colors of the flag of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Amid the dispute a member of the AKP group stabbed Şenyaşar, and then someone from the Şenyaşar family allegedly fired a gun at AKP deputy Yıldız and his entourage, which left Yıldız’s brother, Mehmet Ali, dead and eight others wounded.
While the injured were being treated at a local hospital, relatives of the AKP deputy allegedly killed two members of Şenyaşar’s family, including his son Celal Şenyaşar.
A Republican People’s Party (CHP) official in Şanlıurfa, Servet Gören, also claimed Esvet Şenyaşar was killed, the Medyablok news website reported.
According to the Mezapotamya news agency, deputy Yıldız’s bodyguards were firing shots after the dispute.
A total of 19 people were detained on Saturday, two days after an armed clash during an election tour of a delegation from the AKP in Şanlıurfa. According to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency, an parliamentary candidate from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and several district administrators of the HDP, as well as its local affiliate DBP, were among the detained.
“Some of those who were involved in this incident were registered in the police records for their past links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party/Kurdistan Communities Union (PKK/KCK),” Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım told journalists in Suruç on June 15. “All of these findings will be evaluated and the truth will be revealed,” he added.
Meanwhile, the HDP has released a preliminary report on the attack in Suruç and confirmed that there was a lynch at the hospital, an event that was tried to be dismissed as false. The report says that Esvet Şenyaşar and his sons, who were slaughtered by AKP members, have been shopkeepers and worked for 25 years behind the Council building in Suruç.
The HDP stated that on AKP deputy candidate, İbrahim Halil Yıldız, who was carrying out his election campaign work, engaged in a verbal discussion with members of the Şenyaşar family. This discussion ended with no violence.
What happened on June 14 was reported as follows: “AKP candidate Yıldız and his relatives returned to the workplace of Şenyaşar family. This time the verbal discussion turned into a violent one when the deputy candidate Yıldız and people accompanying him attacked brothers Adil, Celal and Ferit Şenyaşar with long barreled weapons and pistols.
As a result of this attack, Adil and Celal Şenyaşar, who had been wounded, were taken to the emergency service of Suruç State Hospital by ambulance. The third brother, Ferit was brought to Balıklıgöl State Hospital in Urfa center.
Esvet, the father of the three men, walked to Suruç State Hospital to stay close to his two sons.
Acting upon instructions of AKP’s candidate Yıldız, his relatives destroyed the security cameras in the hospital first and then, killed one of the two sons of Esvet Yaşaroğlu while he was under treatment in emergency department, and the other son in front of Suruç State Hospital.
Esvet Şenyaşar was beaten with an oxygen cylinder and taken in serious conditions to the 25 Aralık Hospital in Gaziantep. He lost his life on June 15 while his sons were buried in Suruç.
Turkey will hold snap elections on June 24.
The campaign booths of the İYİ (Good) Party, Felicity Party (SP) and Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) have been the subject of attacks in several cities. An HDP report listed 22 attacks since the launch of its election campaign, as of June 3. (SCF with turkishminute.com)
