Post-election riots in Turkey: one person killed, four injured

Post-election riots in Turkey: one person killed, four injured

Kyiv  •  UNN

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The brother of an opposition candidate has been killed and four others injured in clashes between opponents and supporters of the recently elected mayor from the ruling party in southeastern Turkey.

The brother of an opposition candidate was killed and four other people were injured in clashes between opponents and supporters of the newly elected mayor of a city district from the ruling party in a predominantly Kurdish region in southeastern Turkey, reports UNN citing Reuters.

Supporters of President Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) clashed with supporters of opposition party DEVA (Means) in Siirt's Pervari district on Tuesday night after local elections on Sunday in which the opposition largely performed well across Turkey.

In the district, the AKP candidate for mayor won with 52% of the vote, while the DEVA candidate came in second with 40%.

The governor's office said five people were injured in the clashes, one of whom died of his wounds. DEVA Deputy Chairman Mehmet Emin Ekmen identified the deceased as the brother of a party candidate.

DEVA was one of six parties in the opposition alliance ahead of the May 2023 general election, when Erdogan won another five-year mandate and his ruling alliance won a parliamentary majority.

Police are investigating the incident and six people have been detained, the Siirt Governor's Office said, adding that a curfew has been imposed in the Perwari area until Thursday morning for security reasons.

Protests also spread to other southeastern provinces of Turkey on Tuesday night.

Footage showed protesters in Batman province firing firecrackers at police who doused them with water cannons, while dozens of security personnel were stationed around the town of Hakkari, where protests also took place.