Workers' Party of Turkey (TIP) Hatay MP and deputy president, Barış Atay, was attacked by a group of five people in Kadıköy, Istanbul after being targeted by Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu.

Atay and his friends were leaving a restaurant in Kadıköy at around 1.30 am when the group attacked him, calling him a "traitor."

The attack came after Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu made Atay into a target over his remarks protesting the minister regarding the release of Turkish sergeant Musa Orhan who abducted and raped 18-year-old Kurdish girl İpek Er for weeks in Batman province. While the girl passed away, the sergeant did not face any legal action over his crime.