HDP Vice Co-Chairwoman Meral Danış Beştaş stated at a protest in Mardin against the murder of Deniz Poyraz that there were two other armed assailants outside the HDP headquarters in Izmir on the day of the crime. Because no investigation is being conducted, she called on the interior minister and the police chief to resign.

Numerous women from Mardin and the surrounding provinces took part in the protest organized by the HDP Women's Council and the Free Women's Movement (TJA) on Friday. A protest march was actually planned from Karayollari Park to the headquarters of the HDP provincial association. The police sealed off the park in advance with armored cars and barriers and did not let anyone through. The women therefore gathered in front of the party building and occupied the street.

There, Meral Danış Beştaş made a statement in which she described the murder of Deniz Poyraz in Izmir last week as a planned and organized political attack. The target was not only Deniz Poyraz, but a party meeting, the HDP deputy said: "The government and the small coalition partner MHP are behind this. They declared that themselves. No prosecutor has yet asked Bahçeli what right he has to call a murdered woman a terrorist. No one is asking why he justifies the murder."

Meral Danış Beştaş pointed out that numerous women were stopped by the police on their way to the protest in Mardin. She said that the Ministry of Interior was not protecting the people and was busy obstructing the political work of the HDP. She recalled the police's friendly treatment of the murderer Onur Gencer and drew a comparison with the murderer of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, Ogün Samast, with whom police officers had themselves photographed in front of a Turkish flag after his arrest. She noted that the HDP headquarters in Izmir was under round-the-clock surveillance and that police had given the murderer enough time to commit his crime. "We don't even know if the murderer is still in prison. Maybe he has been taken somewhere to be used there, just like weapons have been taken from Turkey to Syria. Or maybe, like [mafia boss Alaattin] Çakıcı, he already has his own suite in prison and orders a special menu. We don't know, we only know that mafias and contract killers live like kings in prison."

The HDP deputy said that the government, including its media, which is bound by instructions, was responsible for the murder, as it systematically spread incitement and created a climate of hatred: "We will not let up. The murderer is not just one person. There were two other gunmen outside our building that day, that much we can say. In the end, the promise we made to Deniz Poyraz is valid for us: She will live on in our struggle. We mourn her and continue her struggle. We women know that women will be shot first. Therefore, we give our word that we will continue to lead this struggle."