Diyarbakir- Northern Kurdistan: Osman Baydemir, one of the most popular Kurdish politicians in Turkey and the mayor of Diyarbakir from the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) has said police have warned him about six assassination plots.
“I have so far received six threats saying, ‘You will be assassinated.’ I feel nothing about them anymore. If someone comes and shoots me in the head, I would feel nothing,” Baydemir told the Anatolia news agency yesterday. He also stated that Turkey is heading toward a period of chaos as long as the Kurdish issue remains unresolved.
In late March, a 19-year-old man surrendered to police in Diyarbakir after confessing to hatching a plot to shoot Baydemir with some people he met online.
Another plot to kill Baydemir and other Kurdish politicians, including BDP deputy Sebahat Tuncel and Ahmet Türk, the former head of the now-defunct Democratic Society Party (DTP), was mentioned in an indictment against Ergenekon, a clandestine network charged with plotting to overthrow the government.
According to prosecutors, the Ergenekon gang had plotted to kill Baydemir, but the assassination attempt was foiled at the last minute when police captured the assassin.