Turkish opposition leader attacked at funeral for slain soldier
Turkish opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu was attacked at the funeral of a slain Turkish soldier, but Turkey's president was slow to offer condolences.
ANKARA, Turkey — The assault on Turkey’s opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu has shocked the country. A man with the common touch, Kilicdaroglu won a place in many people’s hearts when he led a protest march from Ankara to Istanbul. But on Sunday, he was nearly lynched by ultra-nationalists at the funeral of a slain soldier.
“Vile attack,” headlined Sozcu newspaper, above a photograph that covered half of the front page. It showed the assailant punching Kilicdaroglu in the jaw so hard that his face contorted.
But the polarization that spawned the attack, the division of Turkey into two political camps, carried through to the reaction. Not everybody condemned the 59-year-old lorry driver, Osman Sarigun, who landed the punch.
Kilicdaroglu had gone to a mosque in the village of Cubuk, north of Ankara, for the funeral of a soldier killed by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) near the Iraqi border. As the crowd became aware of Kilicdaroglu’s presence, it began to chant “PKK out!”
