Bullets were fired at the IYI (Good) Party’s Istanbul office after Erdogan threatened their chairwoman, Aksener, by saying, “My name is Tayyip, and my surname is Erdogan. Beware of this name, don’t make me mess with you.” Aksener’s response to the attack is “I’m not afraid of you, Mr. Recep.”
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**FULL ARTICLE**
Bullets were fired at a Turkish opposition party’s Istanbul office on Friday and its leader accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of stoking violence through his rhetoric.
The armed attack targeting IYI Party’s office drew a harsh rebuke from its leader Meral Aksener, who said “bullets were inspired by threats” coming from Erdogan.
Erdogan’s ruling AK Party said it condemned both the attack and the accusations against the president.
No one was harmed in the shooting, and Istanbul governor’s office said they began an investigation to find out who the perpetrator was.
“There was an armed attack on our Istanbul provincial presidency, Mr Recep!” she said after the shooting, addressing the president with his first name, a sign of anger in Turkish. The attackers were emboldened by the president’s harsh words against the opposition, Aksener said.
Erdogan took aim at Aksener several times during a televised interview on Wednesday.
“Be careful about our name. My name is Tayyip. My surname is Erdogan. Be careful about Erdogan and the name Tayyip. Talk accordingly when you speak,” Erdogan said on TV while he was explicitly addressing Aksener. “Do not make me mess with you,” he said.
Aksener’s IYI Party is the second largest group in an anti-Erdogan alliance that will contest the president in elections on May 14. The Turkish president is facing a tough electoral race as his popularity has been rattled by devastating earthquakes that shook Turkey in February and a cost-of-living crisis that’s hitting wage earners.
Polls show it will be a close race between him and the main opposition bloc’s candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
Aksener is called a “she-wolf” by her nationalist supporters. She joined forces with the main opposition Republican People’s Party CHP in 2019 and played a key role in the victory against Erdogan’s ruling party at municipal elections the same year.
She “is a strong leader, a she-wolf,” Kilicdaroglu said in a Twitter post after the attack. “You cannot scare her like that.”
Sounds like Erdogan is going back to the dirty tactics to remain in power ahead of the elections like he did in 2016 when he staged a coup against himself.
Lol 100% police will “surprisingly” conclude it was a Kurd terrorist attack.
Erdo started to play his mind games.
“Istanbul Police Department stated that the incident occurred as a result of the construction guard opening fire to kidnap the thieves in order to prevent the theft attempt in a construction in the region, this is not an attack to iyi party.”
Source: [https://www.birgun.net/haber/emniyet-iyi-parti-binasina-isabet-eden-kursunlar-saldiri-degil-hirsiz-kovalamasi-426947](https://www.birgun.net/haber/emniyet-iyi-parti-binasina-isabet-eden-kursunlar-saldiri-degil-hirsiz-kovalamasi-426947)