Security tightened around PM’s Istanbul house after shopkeeper attacked

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

An attack on a shopkeeper, who was sitting in front of a patisserie near Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s house in Istanbul, caused a minor security alert.

Ergun Gökırmak, who owns a shop near Erdoğan’s house in Istanbul’s Üsküdar neighborhood, was hit by an unidentified object on the shoulder coming from an unknown source on Sept. 12, causing the police to tighten security around the house.

Police took security measures in the surroundings of, and at the park just across from, the house, after Gökırmak cried out with pain due to being hit by the unidentified object in the back of his right shoulder.

Gökırmak was first hospitalized and then brought back to the scene to explain the incident for an investigation the police had opened. While Gökırmak’s arm was bandaged, police could not define what the object was.

Erdoğan left his house to attend an event at the CNR exhibition center about half an hour after the incident.