HDP attacker tells authorities he 'would have shot others too’

World 09:10 PM - 2021-06-18

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A gunman who attacked the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (HDP) İzmir office on Thursday, killing a female party worker, has told authorities he “would have shot others too”.

 

Onur Gencer, a former health worker in his late twenties, killed Deniz Poyraz after she let him into the building at around 11 a.m. local time. The HDP said Poyraz had been covering her mother’s shift at the office.

 

In testimony after being detained by police, Gencer said: “I would have shot at others too, if there were any more people in the building,” Deutsche Welle Turkish reported.

 

“I didn’t make any distinction,” he said, adding that he believed members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) “frequented” the premises.

 

The third-largest grouping in parliament, the HDP is accused by the government and its nationalist allies of links to the PKK, which has been partner to an internal conflict with the Turkish state since the 1980s.

 

Much of the HDP leadership, including former co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, are currently imprisoned. Earlier this month, the country’s top prosecutor submitted a new indictment seeking the legal closure of the party over alleged terrorist activity.  

 

Gencer said he carried out the attack “spontaneously” having “dreamt of killing PKK members since childhood”, according to DW.  

 

However, in the same statement, the shooter said he had signed up at a language school located one storey above the HDP offices to scout the building after looking it up online in January.

 

An analysis of Google trends by Twitter user Emre Ecevit showed two small spikes in searches for “HDP İzmir” the night before the shooting, suggesting possible ties.

 

Gencer denied association with any political groups and told police his family lived in İzmir’s Gaziemir district, where several of the city’s industrial zones are located.

 

He said Gaziemir police had issued him with a handgun licence in May.

 

“I put 10 bullets in a Ruger gun I bought for 3,500 liras ($400),” DW cited him as saying.   

 

“I fired all 10 shots in the HDP building” he added. “My aim was to find a few people in there. But there was only one person.”

 

A crime scene video obtained by Pir news agency purported to show as many as 18 bullet holes in doors and walls of the HDP offices, seemingly contradicting Gencer’s testimony.

 

News network Tele1 published a blurred photo it said was taken from Gencer’s WhatsApp status showing a body on the floor with the caption: “Carcass one”.

 

In his statement, Gencer appeared to confirm allegations circulating on social media that he had recently visited Syria, saying he travelled to the city of Manbij as a healthcare worker in early 2020.

 

An Instagram account in Gencer’s name includes images of a man holding a rifle with Manbij tagged as the location. “On the way back from duty,” reads a caption on another photo in the border town of Gaziantep.

 

“It is not yet clear whether the attack was an individual or organised one,” former National Intelligence Organisation (MİT) deputy undersecretary Cevat Öneş told news website Ankara Gazetecisi.

 

“The government’s attitude towards opposition parties in general puts forth an image that encourages such behaviour,” Öneş said. “And an atmosphere emerges where such attackers feel safe.”

 

People who have travelled to the conflict in Syria before returning “absolutely make me uneasy”, he added.

 

 

 

PUKmedia / Ahval