JINHA

ADANA/MERSIN – Four are wounded in simultaneous bomb attacks on two offices of left opposition party Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in Mersin and Adana. One of the wounded is Adana's co-chair for the Seyhan district, Hüseyin Beyaz, who is in serious condition.

One explosion occurred in the HDP building in Adana's Tepebağ neighborhood, the center for HDP organizing in the southern Mediterranean province of Adana and in the populous urban district of Seyhan. Four were wounded in the explosion, among them Seyhan district party co-chair Hüseyin Beyaz (whose condition is serious) as well as HDP directors İbrahim Yakut and Selahattin Pişkin.Firefighters came to the scene to take care of the fire as the wounded were taken in an ambulance to the hospital. People quickly assembled outside the building, with tension rising between police and the crowd.

The explosion in Mersin was accomplished through a bomb hidden in a delivery of flowers sent to the party's Mersin provincial office yesterday, according to HDP Mersin provincial co-chair Didar Gül. The bomb went off at 10 a.m. in the office on the second floor of an eight-story building. Three HDP party activists inside the building as well as the activists who were on the balcony at the time jumped from the second-story balcony as the explosion blew out the glass in the HDP office and surrounding apartments. A crowd headed for the Mersin party building immediately in solidarity. Investigations are continuing, with police at the scene.

There was a large HDP rally planned for Mersin today, coming on the heels of the well-attended HDP rally in Adana province. The party's general co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş was scheduled to speak at the rally.

The HDP has been mounting an unprecedented election campaign for Turkey's June elections, running for a party (rather than as independent candidates) for the first time in a bid to thwart thirteen years of AKP rule. The HDP has been polling at rates that would put them above Turkey's 10% election threshold, the highest in Europe and long an obstacle to opposition parties entering Parliament in Turkey. There have been over 50 different attacks on HDP offices in various cities and towns across Turkey since the election campaign started.

(fz/fk/cm)