A candidate who was running in Turkey's upcoming local elections was killed in an armed attack in Istanbul, Turkish media reported on Thursday.
The attack occurred on Wednesday night outside the Justice and Development Party (AKP) offices in Istanbul's bustling Beylikduzu district, Dogan news agency reported according to Agence France Presse.
Coskun Demirkol was running for a place on the district council in the March 30 polls and was killed when an unidentified gunman opened fire on him outside the AKP office. He died at the scene, AFP reported.
A suspect was later arrested by police, but no further reports have emerged on the identity on the gunmen.
According to Dogan news agency, the AKP's district head Nevzat Demiroz said the attack on Demirkol was not motivated by politics.
"The attack has no connection with our party. It is an individual attack," he said, AFP reported.
Tensions are running high in Turkey ahead of March's polls, following a graft investigation into Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's top allies who are accused of throwing the country into a political crisis.
