HDP (Peoples' Democratic Party) office in Soma district of western province of Manisa was set on fire late Monday evening. The attack which the police said was not “deliberate” was commented by HDP members as a sabotage.

The HDP office on Gazi Osmanpaşa Street, which had also been targeted during last year's pre-local election period, became unusable as a result of the attack.

HDP officials in the district came to the scene soon upon being informed by police after fire brigade crew extinguished the fire.

HDP Soma district chair Zabit İleri pointed out that they learned about the incident after being informed by police, saying; "Police were making criminal investigation at the scene when we arrived, to see that assailants set the building on fire after breaking into the office by breaking the window near the door entrance. Police and fire brigade crew told us that the fire broke out as a result of overheating of newspapers exposed to sunlight in the party building."

Stressing that it was not very likely that the fire started after newspapers caught fire, İleri said; "As much as I saw, the fire started from a banner hanged above the door. This incident cannot be evaded as just an undeliberate incident. This is utterly an attack and sabotoge carried out by powers that cannot put up with the growth of our party. As is known to all, our party offices are increasingly being targeted by armed attacks and sabotages which will however never intimidate us."

Remarking that this is not the first attack the HDP has faced, İler recalled that the HDP Soma office had also been targeted during the local election process in 2014 when assailants torn down the sign of the party, broke the windows and set the building on fire.