In the months leading up to Turkey’s June 7 general election, there was widespread violence against the leftist, pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). Some two hundred attacks on rallies, HDP campaigners, and party buildings were registered, culminating in bombs detonating in HDP offices in Adana and Mersin (fortunately no one was killed) and two bombs going off at a huge rally in Amed/Diyarbakir, killing four people.

The perpetrators of these attacks were rarely sought out, let alone convicted. But their source is quite clear: the environment of right-wing and Islamist paramilitary groups and several youth groups close to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), as well as the extreme-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The Turkish police did nothing to halt this violence. Meanwhile, both the media close to the AKP and Turkish officials up to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have added fuel to the fire, verbally assailing the HDP ceaselessly.

Between Monday and Wednesday of last week, nationalist and fascist mobs attacked some 250 to 300 HDP offices. They set some party buildings ablaze, including the central office in Ankara. On Tuesday night, fascist mobs across the country held marches “condemning terrorism” that led to simultaneous attacks and firebombings of dozens of HDP bureaus.