The Turkish Government often accused the HDP of organizational ties with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calling HDP politicians terrorists.[6] The attack was executed at the same time as the HDP is threatened with a closure case.[7] The assailant wanted to kill PKK militants since months and found out about the location of the HDP headquarters in January 2021[8] and stayed in hotels near the building before the attack[4] In May 2021, he purchased a Ruger gun he used during the attack.[8]