Nine people have been detained in the assault of Turkey's main opposition Republican Peoples Party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who was hit during a soldiers funeral, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said.
Kilicdaroglu was attacked yesterday as he attended a funeral in a northern district of Ankara for a soldier killed in clashes with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants.
Soylu added that Kilicdaroglu’s recent "contacts" with the Kurdish party (HDP) made him a target.
"CHP’s contacts with the HDP, and HDP’s policy that doesn’t distance itself from the PKK are all happening before the public eye. Kilicdaroglu should have informed the authorities if he wanted to attend the funeral," Reuters cited the minister as saying.
“It’s wrong to blame the interior ministry for such incidents while partnering with the political arm of the PKK at the same time,” Soylu added, saying Kilicdaroglu’s party was trying to make political gains from the attack.
