Crash injures 4, including Türkiye's Great Union Party leader
Mustafa Destici speaks at an event in Sivas, central Türkiye, March 3, 2024. (AA Photo)


Four people, including Great Union Party (BBP) leader Mustafa Destici, were injured in a car crash in northern Türkiye on Monday. Destici was traveling with his entourage in the Tokat province at the time of the crash. Media outlets reported that he did not sustain a serious injury.

Destici was in the city for an election campaign ahead of the March 31 municipal vote. Tokat Governor Numan Hatipoğlu told Anadolu Agency (AA) that Destici and others were taken to a hospital in the district of Reşadiye and were in good health.

Turkish media outlets reported that his car swerved off the road for an unknown reason and hit the iron barriers. A visibly shaken Destici was seen entering a hospital.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan telephoned Destici following the accident, wishing him a fast recovery.

The BBP, a small nationalist party, lost its founding leader, Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu, in a mysterious helicopter crash in 2009. Like Destici, Yazıcıoğlu was on a campaign tour for an upcoming election when a helicopter carrying him, his entourage and a journalist crashed in the southern province of Kahramanmaraş on March 25, 2009. Yazıcıoğlu and six others aboard died in the accident. Yazıcıoğlu’s family has filed a lawsuit over the crash, claiming the crash was suspicious and the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), known for its opposition to Yazıcıoğlu, might be involved in his death.