A woman prepares to sell Turkish flags in Taksim square on July 18, 2016 in Istanbul. (AFP PHOTO / OZAN KOSE)
A senior official working for Istanbul’s Sisli district city hall died Monday after two gunmen walked into his office and shot him in the head.
It was not immediately clear if the incident was related to the failed coup that has been roiling Turkey for the past several days.
Deputy Mayor in charge of Development Cemil Candas was rushed to a nearby hospital, but succumbed to his injuries afterwards.
Police detained the two gunmen, who were taken out by the rear entrance.
Various reports inaccurately stated that Candas was Jewish. Sisli is home to some of Istanbul’s remaining Jews, as well as the Jewish newspaper and the Ottoman-Turkish Sephardic Culture Research Center.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Editionby email and never miss our top stories
The Sisli municipality is run by the opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP. The CHP condemned Friday’s attempted coup.
The incident came after a shooting outside an Ankara courthouse and a reported bomb threat at the Turkish parliament, both on Monday, as the country remained gripped by violence.
Authorities have not established direct links between the spate of violent incidents and the coup attempt.
Advertisement
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
