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Politics

Turkish opposition leader attacked at funeral

April 21, 2019

CHP chief Kemal Kilicdaroglu was beset upon by protesters at a soldiers funeral. President Erdogan's AKP has come under fire for promoting partisan discord.

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Kemal Kilicdaroglu
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/AA/M. Aktas

The leader of Turkey's main opposition, the Republican People's Party (CHP), was attacked by protesters at a funeral on Sunday.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu was set upon by a mob while attending a memorial in Ankara for a soldier who was killed fighting Kurdish militants.

Footage of the incident shows a large group of people pushing and shoving around Kilicdaroglu as he tried to get away from them.

He was brought to a nearby house by security forces for his protection. It was not immediately clear if he had been injured.

Turkey's state news agency Anadolu said that the group had been protesting his presence at the funeral, and then attacked him with blows.

Read more: EU throws unemployed journalists in Turkey a lifeline

"Legal action has been launched against the culprits of the incident," the Ankara governor's office said in a statement.

The incident comes on the heels of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling AKP party calling for election recounts in key local votes in Istanbul and Ankara, which they lost to the CHP. The AKP has been criticized for fueling partisan tensions.

After carrying out a limited recount, the Turkish election commission granted the mayorship of Istanbul, Erdogan's hometown, to the CHP's Ekrem Imamoglu.

es/ (AP, AFP)

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