[VIDEO] HDP deputy’s mother removed from grave after racist attack

The body of Hatun Tuğluk, mother of jailed Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Aysel Tuğluk, was on Wednesday removed from the grave after an attack carried out by a ultranationalist group during the funeral, the Gazete Duvar news website reported.

According to the report, the body of Hatun Tuğluk, who passed away on Tuesday, was taken to İncek Cemetery in Ankara’s Batıkent district. The HDP’s Aysel Tuğluk attended the funeral with special permission from Kandıra Prison in Kocaeli province, where she is incarcerated. Some 50 ultranationalists who had gathered in the cemetery attacked the funeral, saying: “We have martyrs in this cemetery. We will not allow terrorists to be buried here.”

Following the attack, the body of Hatun Tuğluk was removed from the grave and again taken to a morgue. She will now be buried in Tunceli province.

Kurdish politician Sırrı Sakık, who also attended the funeral, criticized the government for not taking adequate security measures since they were under attack for a long time in the cemetery. Sakık said the ultranationalist group insisted that they would not let “Kurds, Alevis or Armenians be buried in the cemetery.”

HDP deputy Mithat Sancar said he could not reach the governor of Ankara for 40 minutes after the attack started, underlining that no additional police were sent to the cemetery despite the growing number of assailants.

In a statement on Twitter the HDP said the government is responsible for the attack due to it having polarized attitudes in society.

There are currently 11 HDP deputies behind bars in Turkey after the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government stepped up a crackdown on Kurdish politicians last fall. Trustees have been appointed to dozens of municipalities in the country’s predominantly Kurdish Southeast, while hundreds of local Kurdish politicians have been arrested on terror charges.