The election office of the Turkish opposition’s Republican People's Party (CHP) was attacked by six unidentified suspects overnight, the party’s Istanbul provincial chair said early Wednesday, marking the second such instance this month.
The party’s representative bureau in Istanbul’s Ataşehir district was vandalized by a group who tore apart party flags and painted slogans over the windows and posters of leader and presidential runner Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, while two other suspects fired three shots, likely blank cartridges, into the air, Canan Kaftancıoğlu said in a tweet with pictures from the scene.
Describing the incident as an attempt to scare party members ahead of landmark presidential and parliamentary elections next month, she said: “We are not afraid but you should be because you have a lot to fear for!” and called on the authorities to find the perpetrators.
The city governorate assured an investigation has been launched into the incident to catch the suspects, including the pair who fled on a motorcycle after firing the shots.
Earlier this month, the CHP experienced a similar incident at its Istanbul headquarters where up to seven shots were fired into the air from a car speeding on the highway near the CHP office which followed another attempted “shooting” at the Istanbul offices of ally Good Party (IP).
The "attack" on IP turned out to be a case of stray bullets fired by construction site staff chasing away thieves but IP adhered to the rhetoric that it was an act of intimidation toward the party ahead of the elections.
The party's chair Meral Akşener showed what she claimed to be bullets found at the scene during a speech at Parliament before angrily tossing them, after accusing the government of covering up the investigation of the incident. Her "bullet show" has drawn the ire of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which called the stunt "ugly."
The IP and CHP are part of the six-party opposition alliance which has nominated Kılıçdaroğlu as their candidate to challenge incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the May 14 elections.
Next month’s polls are set to be a critical one for Türkiye, barely three months after devastating earthquakes in its southeast amid the economic crisis.
