Turkey: Attack on pro-Kurdish party offices leaves 1 dead

ISTANBUL — A gunman killed one person Thursday during an attack on the office of a pro-Kurdish party in western Turkey, authorities said..

The Peoples’ Democratic Party, or HDP, said a gunman entered the building in Izmir province, fired shots and attempted to set the office on fire.

The provincial governor’s office said one person was killed. The office said a suspect, a former health worker, was detained. Turkish media showed social media posts of the alleged attacker with guns and rifles.

HDP confirmed the shooting victim was Deniz Poyraz, a female party employee.

The HDP, the second-largest opposition party in Turkey’s parliament, has faced a widespread government crackdown, with party members being accused of supporting an outlawed Kurdish militant group. Turkey’s president has called them terrorists.

Thousands of pro-Kurdish activists, along with lawmakers and the party’s former leaders, have been imprisoned. The HDP is also facing renewed legal action seeking its closure.

The HDP, in a statement, accused the Turkish government and the country’s interior minister of targeting the party and provoking such attacks.

The HDP’s co-leader, Mithat Sancar, said later at a news conference that the attack was an attempt to sow chaos. He added that a meeting with 40 party administrators at the office scheduled for around the time of the attack had been postponed at the last minute and claimed the assailant had aimed for a “massacre.”

He said all supporters of democracy should gather around the HDP. Some ruling party officials and opposition lawmakers condemned the attack on Twitter.