Invitation to participate in the hearing of the murder of Deniz Poyraz
Since the general election of 7 June 2015, systematic attacks have been carried out on HDP headquarters, provincial and district buildings, deputies, administrators, members, sympathizers and volunteers. These are a product of the discriminatory, marginalizing, polarizing and targeting policies practiced by the AKP government and its ultra nationalist partners. Thousands of party members, including executives, MPs, and co-mayors, have been detained and arrested throughout this period, and severe physical attacks have taken place as a consequence of the government’s criminalization politics against the HDP. One of these attacks was against the HDP’s İzmir Provincial Building, and, sadly, a young woman who was in the building, was murdered by the assailant’s gunfire. The first hearing of the legal case against the perpetrator of this brutal attack will be held on 29 December 2021 at 10:00 a.m. at the İzmir 6th Heavy Criminal Court.
On 17 June 2021, an assailant with a shotgun entered our İzmir office. Deniz Poyraz, the daughter of a party employee, was in the office, and she lost her life to the assailant’s gunfire. As our party officials in İzmir have stated, our party building has been targeted for months. About a month before the attack, the police set up a check point in front of the building in response to a family that is keeping watch there to protest their allegation that their child was taken to the mountains by the PKK. Our party officials in İzmir had talked with the police officials and the governorship regarding the possibility of provocation, but with no results. Importantly, this attack, as previous ones, took place before the eyes of the police without any intervention or prevention.
After the attack, it came to light that the assailant had been assigned to a military base in the Syrian city of Manbij, and that he was associated with many soldiers, police and paramilitary people. However, instead of carrying out an effective investigation to identify those who are associated with the assailant, the investigation has been limited, and only focused on the murderer. Consequently, the indictment of this case, far from revealing the truth behind the attack, conceals possible links between the assailant and unlawful elements within the Turkish security and intellegence apparatus – or the so called “deep state.”
Close attention to this case is important, both with respect to Turkeys’ procedural obligations regarding the right to life and the prevention of impunity, and also, more specifically, to stop the criminalization of the HDP and to prevent further attacks on its members and party offices. We therefore invite all democratic institutions and actors of the international community to closely monitor the case of Deniz Poyraz which will be held in İzmir on 29 December 2021.
Feleknas Uca & Hişyar Özsoy
HDP’s Co-spokespersons for Foreign Affairs
Contact: woman.diplomacy@hdp.org.tr Web: www.hdp.org.tr
Address: Barbaros Mah. Tahran Cad. Büklüm Sok. No: 117 06680 Çankaya, Ankara – Turkey
Phone: +90 312 427 17 80 Fax: +90 312 4288957
Download this letter as a pdf here: https://www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Invitation-for-the-hearing-of-Deniz-Poyraz.pdf
Invitation for the hearing of Deniz Poyraz