Turkey Opposition Leader Blames Erdogan for Attack on Party Building

Meral Aksener (C), the leader of the opposition 'Good Party' (IYI) speaks at a press conference after election results in Ankara, Turkey, 26 June 2018. Photo: EPA-EFE/STR

"One-and-a-half months left to the elections, and our party building has been riddled with bullets from first to third floors following Recep's third threat," Aksener told a press conference after the attack.

Aksener recalled that her home was tried to be raided and she faced a lynching attempt after Erdogan threatened her previously.

"Mrs. Meral. Watch out for us. My name is Tayyip, my surname is Erdogan. Watch out for Erdogan. Also, pay attention to the name Tayyip. Speak accordingly when speaking. Be careful, do not bother me with yourself," President Erdogan said in a televised interview on March 29.

"Now [after the third threat] our party building was attacked," Aksener continued.

Aksener said she was threatened and her party was attacked also because of her gender.

"All kinds of insults and filth that could not be done to a male politician were done to me. It was done because I am a woman. If this is done to me as a female politician, what can't be done to you, women and girls?" Aksener said. "If you do not want this, vote for the Good Party and Kemal Kilicdaroglu," she added, referring to the joint opposition presidential candidate.

Aksener, also known as the "Iron Lady", is one of the few senior female politicians in Turkish politics. She was Turkey's first female interior minister in the 1990s during turbulent times. After disagreeing with Erdogan's ally Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, MHP, she and several other senior politicians established the Good Party.

The Good Party is Turkey's fourth largest political...