A DELEGATION of election observers flew to Turkey yesterday as pre-election violence claimed the life of a pro-Kurdish party employee.
Gunmen opened fire on a minibus hired by the left-wing People’s Democratic Party (HDP) late on Wednesday.

The office of the Bingol provincial governor said that the driver had been found shot dead near the vehicle and that an investigation had been launched.

Turkey is set for a general election on Sunday, with the HDP expected to pass the 10 per cent threshold needed to guarantee seats in parliament.

The attack came a few weeks after bombs exploded at two local HDP offices in the southern cities of Mersin and Adana, where six people were injured.

Days ago, officials announced that two supporters of a small Islamist party had been killed in a fight with Kurdish party supporters in south-eastern Turkey.

The motive for the latest attack was not known but the HDP is frequently accused by the ruling Justice and Development Party and other nationalists of links to Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy.

Observers from the British Peace in Kurdistan Campaign, whose patrons include Labour Party leadership hopeful Jeremy Corbyn, will be based in the city of Gaziantep, west of Adana, until Tuesday.

The group of lawyers, academics, human rights advocates and journalists is there at the invitation of the HDP to ensure fair voting.

Delegate and Cambridge University politics lecturer Dr Thomas Jeff Miley said that a strong showing by the HDP “would significantly strengthen the prospect of achieving a peaceful and democratic solution to the Kurdish question.”