PKK kills another local AKP politician in Turkey’s Diyarbakır

DİYARBAKIR

A ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) politician was killed by outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in the Dicle district of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır on Oct. 11, marking the second such killing by the group in two days.

PKK militants opened fire on Deryan Aktert, the AKP’s district chairman in Dicle, while he was at his workplace.        

An investigation has been launched to apprehend the PKK militants responsible for the attack.  
     
On Oct. 9, another local AKP politician was killed by a group of PKK militants in the Özalp district of the eastern province of Van.

According to a statement from the Van Governor’s Office, Aydın Muştu, the party’s district deputy head, was shot dead after he resisted the group’s attempt to seize his minibus outside his home.

Speaking during his party’s weekly parliamentary group meeting, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said the PKK had entered a “new phase” with the recent attacks targeting AKP politicians. 

Yıldırım said the outlawed group’s leading figures had been given instructions to step up suicide attacks targeting AKP members, and that these recent attacks prove such instructions.   

“The PKK terror group has turned toward the AK Party organizations. The other day our Özalp deputy district head was slaughtered at his home, in front of his wife and children. Last night, our Dicle district head was killed at his own business. The traitors should know this: The AK Party will not be defeated by your [PKK’s] actions. Our government will pursue all incidents with determination to clear our country of all terror organizations,” he vowed.