ISTANBUL: A ruling party candidate in Turkish local elections next month has been killed in an armed attack in Istanbul, media reported yesterday.
The attack took place Wednesday night outside the offices of the Justice and Development Party in Istanbul’s populous Beylikduzu district, Dogan news agency reported.
Coskun Demirkol, who was running for a place on the district council in the March 30 polls, was gunned down by an unidentified individual and died at the scene.
Police later arrested a suspect.
The party’s district head Nevzat Demiroz said the attack was not politically motivated. “It is an individual attack,” he said.
Tensions are running high ahead of the local polls after a graft investigation into allies of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan plunged Turkey into a deep political crisis.
AFP
