By Izabela Kuczynska
ANKARA
The man accused of stabbing a pro-Kurdish party official told a court in Ankara Wednesday he acted on his own and was not influenced by any person or group.
Suspect Emrah Akman had allegedly stabbed Ahmet Karatas, a caucus member of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party or the HDP, Tuesday at the party’s headquarters in Ankara.
Akman told the court he worked as a private security guard and did not know Karatas personally.
He said he went to the party headquarters Tuesday after arriving from Turkey’s eastern Erzurum province. He said he wanted to explain his “troubles,” which included his financial woes as a student.
“I decided to go to the HDP headquarters to discuss with the authorities a solution to the latest events and recent deaths in protests in Turkey,” Akman added.
He said he was sitting in the waiting room, when he saw Karatas and attacked him with his knife.
“I was acting alone and no one influenced me to attack him,” he said.
The government has blamed the HDP for inciting the recent pro-Kurdish violence in Turkey. Last month, deadly protests had left at least 38 civilians and two police officers dead, along with scores of vehicles, state buildings, political party offices and shops damaged across the country.
The demonstrations came after the HDP had issued a call via social media to take to the streets as a sign of solidarity with Syria's Kurdish-populated town of Kobani.
www.aa.com.tr/en
