The Felicity Party (SP) has released a statement concerning an attack on campaign workers by members of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), claiming that police on the scene failed to intervene in the incident.
Early Saturday morning a group of SP members hanging campaign banners in Ankara were attacked by MHP members, including party deputy Mevlüt Karakaya, resulting in the hospitalization of seven people, one of whom sustained serious injuries.
The MHP members claimed the SP campaign workers were removing their banners, which they say was the real cause of the fight.
Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) spokesperson Ayhan Bilgen also shared a rumor about the incident, saying the MHP members said they thought the people taking down their banners were HDP members.
SP parliamentary candidate Fethi Öztürk fired a gun into the air to stop the fight, according to the statement.
The SP also claimed Öztürk, who was seriously injured during the incident, was taken to the police station despite the fact that he required emergency care and was delayed in reaching the hospital.
The Ankara Governor’s Office on Saturday issued a statement explaining the incident as the fault of the SP campaign team. According to the statement, Öztürk was detained by the police since he fired his gun during the incident.
However, the SP insisted that they never intended to be engaged in the fight.
“We are sorry to say that all these happenings were a result of the vengeance and violent rhetoric, polarization and stigmatization in politics,” the statement said.