"We will not allow Türkiye to be dragged into an atmosphere of insecurity and unrest," President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Sunday, following an armed attack at a local Istanbul election campaign event for a candidate of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which left a woman seriously injured.
One of the attackers has been caught, while police continue with an investigation into finding the other, Erdoğan said at an announcement event for AK Party’s district mayoral candidates for western Tekirdağ province.
“We will not allow those who cannot bear that our election process is progressing healthily worthily of our democracy,” Erdoğan underlined a day earlier on social media. “No attack on our democracy, unity and solidarity will achieve its purpose.”
The attackers opened fire with pistols during an event for a district mayoral candidate from the AK Party. "I condemn the armed attack carried out during the election campaign of the AK Party's and People's Alliance's Küçükçekmece mayoral candidate, Aziz Yeniay, and I wish a speedy recovery to our seriously injured citizen,” Erdoğan added.
The candidate was not harmed, while a 32-year-old woman was critically wounded and the attackers escaped in a vehicle. The motive and identities of the attackers, who fired with long-barrelled guns and pistols, were not immediately clear. Police said they were reviewing security camera footage and had found 17 spent shells at the site.
An investigation was launched by the Küçükçekmece Chief Public Prosecutor's Office regarding the incident, and police teams started working to catch the suspects.
A team of 150 people formed to identify the suspects examined the camera records in the surrounding area, and carried out work at the scene, finding 14 7.62 millimeter long-barreled gun casings and three 9 millimeter casings, while it was determined that five vehicles and one resident were hit by bullets.
“We know that terrorism feeds off fear and panic,” Yeniay told reporters after the incident. “We will not give credence to this, we will not be afraid."
“Of course, you can be sure that the criminals will be held accountable before justice. We will be on the field with our people with determination and without fear or giving credit to such an attack,” he added.
Officials and several political parties have strongly condemned the attack. Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairperson Özgür Özel on Saturday called Yeniay to denounce the attack and highlighted the importance of thwarting all threats to democracy.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya emphasized that security forces and the ministry will ensure that the period up until elections, election day and the days after will pass in a secure environment.
“We will hold the local elections, which are truly a feast of democracy, in the best possible way. No one should doubt this,” he said.
A test of popular support for the AK Party and the opposition in the aftermath of last May's general election, municipal elections on March 31 will show whether the opposition may regain momentum and if the AK Party is still popular despite challenges.
Istanbul, Türkiye’s most populated city, and the capital of Ankara will be in focus for the AK Party, and multiple rallies will be held in those cities.
The party has already announced candidates for mayors of all big cities, including Istanbul. Former Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum will challenge CHP's incumbent Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu for Türkiye's most populated city, while Turgut Altınok will square off against incumbent Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş.
Meanwhile, defeated by the AK Party in last year's general election, the CHP seeks to recoup losses. Dealing a blow to the alliance hopes of the CHP, the pro-PKK Green Left Party (YSP), informally known as the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), a successor of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), announced its candidates for the upcoming municipal election in Istanbul. The Kurdish population represents an important share of Istanbul's voters and also helped the CHP win in the Aegean coast city of Izmir in 2019.
But last year's poor general election results fractured the opposition and prompted the YSP to run its own candidates in the local polls, while another former main ally of the CHP, the Good Party (IP), also decided to field its own candidates.
