Murderer of HDP member revealed to have called police 27 times before attack

Duvar English 

Onur Gencer, the man who raided Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) offices in the Aegean province of İzmir and killed party member Deniz Poyraz on June 17, was revealed to have called İzmir police headquarters 27 times before the attack. 

Poyraz, a 20-year-old HDP member, had been covering a shift for her mother at the office when Gencer attacked the party's headquarters. 

The HDP blamed the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) for the attack, citing the years-long crackdown on the party.

"The instigator and abettor of this brutal attack is the AKP-MHP government and the Interior Ministry, which constantly targets our party and our members," the HDP said after the attack.

Lawyers of the HDP and Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) told reporters on Oct. 25 that authorities have been unwilling to investigate the murder, Mesopotamia Agency reported. 

Sharing developments regarding Gencer's trial, lawyer Türkan Aslan Ağaç said that authorities were “weak” in the lead-up to and aftermath of the attack. 

"The fact that there was lack of intelligence regarding an armed attack against Turkey's third-largest party in Turkey's third-largest city, that there was a delay in law enforcement reaching the scene, that negligence was found in taking the scene under control, and that the crime scene investigation team did not do its job with due diligence can be cited as examples," Ağaç said.  

"It would be a naive approach to think that these weaknesses are a coincidence,” she added. 

Lawyers pointed to the fact that Gencer called İzmir police headquarters 27 times in the lead-up to the attack, most carried out within the same week. This is abnormal, said Ağaç, and it is critical to understand who he was calling. His legal team has requested recordings of those calls, but has not received them.

“We want to know which unit he spoke with and who he spoke with. However, the police say that there are no audio recordings. No other research or investigation has been carried out in this regard.”

The bag belonging to Gencer was also not fully cataloged in the investigation file. According to Ağaç, a detailed investigation of the crime scene was not carried out - when they carried out an independent investigation of the scene on June 22, the HDP’s team found a cartridge. 

“It is critical to explain why the full list of the items and materials in the bag was not recorded in the report and especially why these items were not taken into custody,” Ağaç said, “Otherwise, public opinion could develop that there was evidence that was destroyed.”

Attorney İmdat Ataş said that authorities were trying to close the case without further investigation. 

“We will continue to strive to show that the attack is an organized act, not a singular one, during this trial,” he said.