The police arrested 15 people on Monday as allegedly involved in the stone attack yesterday against an electoral rally of the main opposition party, the social democrat CHP, in the city of Erzurum in the east of the country, a conservative region and stronghold of the Islamist AKP party, which has ruled Turkey since 2002.
The crowd that was attacked had come to listen to the rally of the mayor of Istanbul, the Social Democrat Ekrem İmamoğluwho supports the candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in the presidential election campaign to be held this Sunday. İmamoğlu aspires to be Turkey’s vice president if the opposition succeeds in overthrowing the country’s current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan (AKP).
On Sunday, a group of between 150 and 200 people at the rally and stoned attendees, initially without police intervention, according to the CHP. The assailants caused injured 17 peopleof which ten were treated on an outpatient basis and seven were discharged on Monday morning, reports the newspaper evrensel. Among them there were old people and children.
#Turkey Seven injured, including a child and an elderly man, at an opposition rally in Erzurum. They were attacked with stones by a pro-government group in the face of the passivity of the police. The opposition had to cancel the actpic.twitter.com/Awdsd4PA1V
— Lara Villalon (@vm_lara) May 7, 2023
Tensions have been increasing in recent days and today, Erdoğan blamed the incidents yesterday, for “provoke the nation” with his speeches. At a campaign event this Monday in Edirne, in the west of the country, the president said: “[La oposición] they are trying to defame our cities by blatantly making a scene with their own provocations,” Erdoğan said. “They are looking for a cover for their possible election defeat by provoking and insulting people,” he added.
Polls predict a very close competition in the presidential and parliamentary elections that will be held this Sunday, May 14, with Kılıçdaroğlu, even starting with a slight advantage over the current president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is running for re-election.
[Erdoğan podría perder la presidencia ante la coalición opositora tras 20 años en el poder]
This Monday tense moments have been repeated in the city of konyaalso a conservative and a garner of AKP votes, when a person, who was soon detained by the police, tried to provoke conflict during another rally led by İmamoğlu.
