An attempt to lynch Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), occurred April 21 during a funeral in Ankara for soldiers who were slain in clashes with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq. The crowd first booed Kilicdaroglu. Then he was pushed, shoved and punched in the face. He took refuge at a house in the village, as his bodyguards thought it was too dangerous to take him out of the village in a car and through the angry crowd.

Kilicdaroglu was in the house for at least an hour because the crowd refused to disperse in spite of demands by security forces. Some people tried to break into the house, and a woman called on the crowd to set the house on fire. Meanwhile, his minivan was pelted with large stones and seriously damaged.

Kilicdaroglu could only leave the house in an armored vehicle that was brought in at the insistence of the director of the General Directorate of Security, Celal Uzunkaya, who also addressed the crowd. "You need to lynch me first to harm anyone here," he said. Uzunkaya's strong words seem to have played a role in deterring the group.

More than a thousand people had surrounded the house, but only nine people were taken into custody. The prosecutor released three suspects, and five suspects were freed by the magistrate judge. Only one suspect, Osman Sarigun — who punched Kilicdaroglu — was detained and then released and placed under judicial control.