Turkish deputy under fire for swearing at protester

İYİ Party deputy Lütfü Türkkan has prompted anger after footage of him swearing at a protester was shared on social media.

Sunday November 07 2021 12:06 pm

Duvar English

Right-wing opposition Good (İYİ) Party deputy Lütfü Türkkan has come under fire for swearing at a protester in the eastern province of Bingöl.

The footage of the incident was widely shared on social media, which showed a man claiming to be a relative of a person killed by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) protesting İYİ Party leader Meral Akşener.

The video shows Tahir Gümren being surrounded by police after protesting Akşener, which was followed by Türkkan approaching him and listening to what he has to say.

"I'm the relative of a martyr. My brother was killed," Gümren told Türkkan on Nov. 5, before going on to slam Akşener for "defending" the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

"This woman defends the HDP," Gümren said, prompting Türkkan to swear at him.

According to the İYİ Party deputy, Gümren, who previously received a sentence for insulting Akşener on social media, was at the scene for provocation.

Upon backlash, Türkkan, who is also the party's group deputy chair, apologized to the public for swearing at the man.

"I did something that I should never have done," Türkkan said in a video he released on Twitter.

Milletimize arzımdır… pic.twitter.com/FYjO9EmITF
— Lütfü Türkkan (@LutfuTurkkan) November 5, 2021

The İYİ Party is set to sack Türkkan from his post upon the orders of Akşener, sources told Duvar, noting that the new group deputy chair will be elected on Nov. 8.