Armed individuals enter Turkish ruling party office in Istanbul

Two unknown gunmen have raided an office of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party in a suburb of the city of Istanbul.

On Wednesday, two armed men entered the building in Istanbul’s Kartal district, ordered all those inside to leave, and reached the top floor of the seven-story building.

The assailants then broke a number of windows and hung a Turkish flag with a sword on it.

Special police forces have been dispatched to the scene.

The development comes a day after Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) gunmen raided the sixth floor of the Caglayan courthouse, and took prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz hostage.

Kiraz was investigating the killing of Berkin Elvan, who died on March 11, 2014 after spending 269 days in a coma due to injuries inflicted by police in early summer 2013.

Elvan was on his way to buy bread when he was caught up in a street protest in Istanbul’s Okmeydani neighborhood, in June 2013. His family blames the then prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is currently the country’s president, for their Elvan’s death.

Kiraz succumbed to his injuries in hospital late on Tuesday after a six-hour hostage drama in which security forces killed the man’s two captors.

Meanwhile, Turkish security forces have detained 22 people in the southern province of Antalya in an operation against the DHKP-C.

The suspects were arrested before they could carry out abductions in Antalya, located about 550 kilometers (341 miles) south of the capital, Ankara, according to the police.

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