An angry mob of Turkish nationalists late on Sunday arrived at the grave of İbrahim Gökçek, a member of the Grup Yorum band who died after a 322-day hunger strike, threatening to vandalize the grave and burn the body of the musician.
“We don’t want the grave of a terrorist,” a man from the group said according to video footage.
Gökçek was accused of membership in a left-wing terrorist group along with other Grup Yorum musicians.
The band’s concerts are banned by the Turkish government, and a space owned by the band for cultural activities has been raided almost regularly by the police.
Helin Bölek, another group member, also died due to a hunger strike to protest the government’s crackdown on them.
Following Gökçek’s death, a youth branch official from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in Kayseri, the musician’s hometown, announced that he would burn the body if Turkish officials allowed the burial of Gökçek in the city.
The MHP expelled the official immediately after he released his statement.
“The police will be here for a while. Then they’ll leave. And when they do, we’ll exhume the body and burn it,” a man said in the footage.