May 15, 2019•Update: May 15, 2019
By Hamdi Celikbas
ANKARA
Terrorists who attempted to attack Turkey’s parliament will pay the price, Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said early Wednesday.
Altun said on Twitter that two DHKP-C terrorists “directly targeted the Turkish people's will” when they attempted to enter parliament and take a staff member hostage.
The man and woman arrived at the parliament building Tuesday and said they were paying a visit to Mahmut Tanal, Istanbul Deputy of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), who had reportedly invited them.
They were taken to a waiting room and during security checks attempted to take a staff member hostage with a razor blade taped to a pencil but were quickly subdued by security guards.
Police also discovered a black box designed to look like a bomb set-up while searching them.
Altun said all of the networks behind this attempt will be uncovered and the two terrorists will pay the price.
He congratulated the security guards for preventing the attack and said Turkey won't surrender to any terrorist group.
The suspects were taken to the Turkish police’s counter-terror department and an investigation is ongoing.
In his tweet, Altun also commemorated a Turkish prosecutor, Mehmet Selim Kiraz, who was killed by DHKP-C terrorists.
Kiraz was martyred on March 31, 2015 after being taken hostage in his office at Istanbul’s Caglayan Courthouse by two DHKP-C terrorists who had gained access to the building by posing as lawyers.
After hours of negotiations between Turkish police and the hostage takers, Kiraz was shot in the head by his captors and later died.
The DHKP-C had inherited the organization Revolutionary Left (Dev-Sol), which had been active since 1980. It became the DHKP-C in 1994 under the leadership of Dursun Karatas. It purportedly supports Marxist-Leninist ideology and was mostly active during the Cold War era.
In recent years, however, the group has revived its terrorist activities.
*Writing by Can Erozden
