On 17 June 2021, Deniz Poyraz, a 38-year-old member of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) was killed in the provincial office of the party in Konak, Izmir, which was under police surveillance.

Poyraz was hit by six bullets fired from the gun of a supporter of the ultra-nationalist organisation “Grey Wolves”. Her murderer, Onur Gencer, was sentenced to life imprisonment in a show trial in December 2022. Those behind the murder have not been identified.

Deniz Poyraz was born in 1983 in Izmir as the eldest of nine siblings to a Kurdish family from the village of Tavuklu, in the province of Mardin.

The assailant entered the party headquarters in the morning hours and shot Poyraz with a Ruger pistol containing ten bullets. He also shot at an image of the then imprisoned HDP MP Sebahat Tuncel.

Before the assailant killed Poyraz, he attempted to set the building on fire.

From the Cemetery Directorate in Tepecik, Poyraz’ coffin, followed by a large crowd, was brought to the house of Poyraz’ family in the Bağkuyu neighborhood. From there, the procession headed to the Kadifekale Mosque in which the funeral ceremony was held. Later the same day, she was buried in the cemetery in Buca. The then HDP party co-chairs, Mithat Sancar and Pervin Buldan, addressed the crowd at the funeral.

Deniz Poyraz had three imprisoned brothers, of whom two were allowed to attend the funeral.

The first hearing of the case was in December 2021. In the fifth hearing, which was adjourned, the gendarme slapped a brother of the victim and the police used tear gas to calm the crowds at the hearing. In the final hearing in December 2022, the assailant was sentenced to life imprisonment. The defendant’s lawyers were not present at the hearing as they refused to go through an X-ray check.