Istanbul
Attack on Turkish opposition head – perpetrator in custody
Updated on 05.05.2025 – 12:40 p.m.Reading time: 1 min.
CHP boss Özgür Özel was attacked on Sunday at a public event. The attacker was arrested shortly afterwards.
The head of the largest Turkish opposition party Chp has become the victim of a physical attack in Istanbul. The perpetrator was in custody and investigations against him, the state news agency Anadolu reported.
The attack on Özgür Özel had occurred on Sunday at a funeral service for a died politician of the Prepurdish Deme-Party on the central Taksim-Platz. The perpetrator had put Özel in the face with his hand, as could be seen on videos. The CHP chief said shortly afterwards that he was doing well.
According to the Interior Ministry, the attacker is a 66-year-old man who is said to have killed two of his children in 2004 and was sentenced to life in prison. In 2020 he was released on probation.
According to the newspaper Cumhuriyet, the perpetrator said that he had not planned the attack. According to the DHA news agency, he also recorded that he has long been angry with the party because she had rejected his application for a meal card on the grounds that he was not a party member.
The attack was convicted across parties. The CHP also belongs to the Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, which is detained in March. The CHP, on the other hand, regularly calls for protests.
