Gunman fires multiple shots at house of deputy chairman of Future Party
A gunman fired Tuesday multiple shots at the house of the deputy chairman of Future Party, Ayhan Sefer Üstün, in Sakarya province of northwestern Turkey.
There are no reports of casualties from the attack, according to the local sources.
The gunman was arrested by security forces, the officials said.
“The assailant is a man with a criminal record for gang crimes,” said Serkan Özcan, the spokesman for the Future Party.
The Future Party was founded on 12 December 2019 by Ahmet Davutoğlu, a former foreign minister and prime minister on behalf of the conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Having been elected prime minister on 28 August 2014 with the support of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Davutoğlu later opposed the latter's moves to transform Turkey's form of government from a parliamentary to a presidential system.
His conflict with Erdoğan culminated in Davutoğlu's resignation from the premiership, effective from 22 May 2016.
Following his resignation, Davutoğlu frequently criticized the AKP government, which led the party to launch disciplinary actions against him.
In response, he resigned from the AKP on 13 September 2019. He later expressed interest in forming a new party in opposition to President Erdoğan's administration, and ultimately launched the Future Party on 12 December 2019.
The new party immediately published a list of 154 founding members which included numerous former AKP officials, including Ayhan Sefer Üstün, the former head of the Human Rights Commission of the Grand National Assembly. (ILKHA)