Turkish former deputy is attacked

Yıldız and his family had just entered their car, which was parked outside their home, at 9 a.m. when two men on a motorbike with no license plate started shooting at them. Yıldız's relatives, who were also present at the scene, fired shots back at the attackers, killing one of them. No identity documents were found on the assailants.

According to claims, the assailants wanted to steal a suitcase carried by Yıldız, who has an exchange office and a jewellery store in İstanbul's Zeytinburnu district. Yıldız did not hand over the suitcase and pulled out his gun, before the assailants started shooting. The first person to be shot was Yıldız's 35-year-old daughter Betül Yıldız.

Bakırköy Mayor Bülent Kerimoğlu went to the Kartaltepe neighborhood, where the incident took place. Speaking to reporters, Kerimoğlu said: “The former deputy is injured and in hospital at the moment. This is upsetting for all of us. I offer my condolences for those died in the incident. There are no further details.” The İstanbul Police Department issued a brief statement on its official website about the incident.

Eyewitness statements suggest that individuals on motorbikes had been driving around their neighborhood for a few days prior to the incident and that a number of security cameras around Yıldız's home had been deactivated by unidentified people.

Following a study by a crime scene investigation unit, a vehicle belonging to the Bakırköy municipality arrived to take the bodies of Yıldız's daughter, wife and the assailant who was killed during the exchange of fire. Meanwhile, Yıldız's relatives objected to the bodies of Betül Yıldız and her mother Firuze Yıldız being placed in the same vehicle as the body of the assailant, upon which he was taken in another vehicle.

Police later identified the hospitalized assailant as Mehmet Beşir Artukoğlu, who has been implicated in many robbery offenses in İstanbul, Ankara and İzmir. Artukoğlu's accomplice who died in the shootout, M.D.Y., has a criminal record detailing six counts of robbery and one of battery.

Yıldız served as a deputy in Parliament between 1987 and 1991. While a deputy, Yıldız came under the media spotlight after allegations that mob leader Nuri Ergin had asked him for $100,000. Yıldız also served as head of the Zeytinburnu Sports Club.