Calling Demirtaş on Saturday to convey his and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s concern over the incident, Atalay said the incident was a provocation, while noting that an investigation has been launched into the case.
He also told Demirtaş that he would visit BDP headquarters in the coming days to offer congratulations to the new BDP administration.
The BDP was established as a back-up party for the now-defunct pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP). DTP deputies gathered in Parliament under the banner of the BDP after the closure of the DTP. In his initial statements following the incident, BDP leader Demirtaş said: “I condemn the attack. I do not have detailed information regarding the attack. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Interior Minister Beşir Atalay should condemn this attack. Our party has been made a target though the statements of some circles.” BDP co-chairman Gültan Kışanak, in a statement she made at BDP headquarters, said the BDP believes the attack was planned and carried out by a certain center. “Please, do not say it is the work of a drunken man passing by the street. I do not think any of our citizens would attack our building without being manipulated by a subversive power.”
In the meantime, BDP deputy Sırrı Sakık complained that the BDP headquarters was protected by only one police officer. “Go and see how the Justice and Development Party [AK Party], the Republican People’s Party [CHP], the Nationalist Movement Party [MHP] headquarters are protected. There is only one policeman in front of our building. And everyone knows that our building can at any moment be a target of an attack,” Sakık said.
