Turkish opposition leader Akşener faces protest while touring eastern province on election bus

Good (İYİ) Party leader Meral Akşer has faced the protest of a citizen as she was touring the eastern province of Bingöl on an election bus. After the man shouted at Akşener for what he said “demanding votes,” the police intervened and moved him away from the scene of the incident.

Friday November 05 2021 04:17 pm

Duvar English

Turkey's opposition Good (İYİ) Party leader Meral Akşener has faced reaction as she was visiting the eastern province of Bingöl on Nov. 5.

After Akşener got off the election campaign bus, a man was shouted at the opposition leader, saying: “What's more is that you have come to Bingöl and demanding votes.”

The police moved the man away from the scene of the incident and then detained him, according to local reports.

After the tension-raising incident, Akşener continued to hold talks with business owners in the province.

Verbal attacks against Akşener are on the rise following Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's targeting of her in several instances.

Akşener was also verbally attacked by a pro-government group in the Black Sea province of Rize's İkizdere in May, which caused the opposition leader to cut her visit short.

Afterwards, Erdoğan praised the attack against Akşener, saying that she was taught a “lesson” and more will follow. "These are your better days," Erdoğan said on May 26.

Akşener also faced a verbal attack on Aug. 10 as she was visiting the Central Anatolian province of Sivas' Zara district. A man shouted at Akşener as a Gülenist, while a woman said the opposition leader “cannot come here [to Sivas].”

Amid a visible loss in support for his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Erdoğan has been increasingly identifying opposition leaders as targets, implicitly praising attacks against them.

Experts have even noted that Erdoğan's targeting of most notably main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has reached an alarming level.

On Oct. 27, Erdoğan even showeded a previous attack on Kılıçdaroğlu during the AKP's parliamentary group meeting. “The attempts of Kılıçdaroğlu, who doesn't learn any lessons from the defeats he suffered in the elections in the past 11 years, to provoke the public don't stop," said the voice-over when the attack footage was being shown.

As the country's agenda is occupied with concerns of political assassinations, recent reports said that Kılıçdaroğlu increased the number of security officers surrounding him.