Racist attack on Kurdish lawyer in Eskişehir

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) condemned the racist attack on Kurdish lawyer Heval Yıldız Karasu in Eskişehir province in central Anatolia.

Yesterday around five o'clock in the morning lawyer Heval Yıldız Karasu's office was attacked by unknown persons. The attack on the office of the lawyer was carried out with a shotgun. On the building was written "We do not want HDP people in Odunpazarı (a district in Eskişehir)".

Lawyer Karasu represents, among others, the relatives of Ali Ismail Korkmaz, who was killed during the Gezi protests by Turkish security forces, and members of the victims of the ISIS attack on a peace demonstration in Ankara on October 10, 2015, in which 109 people were killed.

On behalf of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Ayşe Acar Başaran, spokeswoman for the HDP Group in the Legal and Human Rights Committee of the Turkish Parliament, condemned the racist attack on the lawyer. Başaran said that the attackers are being encouraged by the attitude of the Turkish government. She pointed out that the attack is also a consequence of the government’s attitude against those who advocate the opposition.

The HDP spokeswoman further stated that a racist club whose premises are located near the law office has spread the following message via social media: "In the building next to our club, a lawyer named Heval Yıldız Karasu has been placed. We do not want HDP people in Odunpazarı". The club has thus made the Kurdish lawyer a target.

Remarking that such attacks serve the polarization of the society, Başaran urged concerned authorities to find out the perpetrators and bring them to court.