After İYİ Party, opposition CHP's Istanbul office also targeted in gunfire

Duvar English

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Istanbul provincial chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu has announced that the party’s Istanbul office in the Sarıyer district was subjected to an armed attack.

She said that an unidentified assailant has fired 6-7 bullets at the CHP Istanbul office. Although the bullets could not have been found at the scene of the incident, empty bullet shells were spotted, she said. 

In a tweet on April 6, she said that the armed attack took place at around 5 a.m. local time. “According to the testimonies of the police officer on duty carrying out duty at the building as well as the private security personnel, 6-7 bullets were fired,” she wrote, adding that the prosecutors are investigating the incident.

CHP Group Deputy Chair Özgür Özel tweeted: “An armed attack was undertaken against our Istanbul Provincial Office. We can’t say to anyone, ‘You did it, You had it done.’ And we can’t say those who are saying the polarizing language of the (ruling) People’s Alliance triggers these (attacks) are false."

The Istanbul Governor’s Office released a statement with regards to the attack, saying that assailants in a driving car had fired a gun into the air, according to the camera footage.

“In the obtained camera footage, it has been determined that a gun was fired from a car moving from Ali Sami Yeni Spor Complex Nef Stadium in the direction of TEM Highway Edirne, in the highway’s second lane. In the works conducted, two bullet shells measuring 9 mm in diameter were found on the roadside,” the governor’s office said.

İYİ (Good) Party’s Istanbul office was similarly subjected to an armed attack on March 31. A watchman working at a nearby construction site was detained with regards to the incident.