Turkish AKP mayor attacked in office in critical condition

Cuneyt Yildiz, mayor of the northwestern Turkish province of Bursa's Gursu district, remains in a critical condition in hospital after a shooting at his office on Wednesday. 

The main suspect is a member of the municipality police who reportedly argued with the mayor - who comes from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) - for an unknown reason and then fired his pistol before fleeing the scene. 

The mayor's driver, who was at the office, was also injured in the attack, according to the Turkish Daily Sabah. 

With the 7 June general elections less than a month away, the attack raised concerns about pre-election violence, but initial reports indicate the attack was not politically motivated. 

On Monday, two bombs hit offices of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democracy Party (HDP) in two provinces in the south, injuring six. 

Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu, who is running for a parliamentary seat in Bursa, told reporters the mayor's condition was critical. 

Yildiz made the headlines last year when he installed a camera in his office at the town hall, streaming footage around the clock in a bid for transparency.

The video showed an empty office after the attack and then, a group of crime scene investigators marking evidence before it went offline. 

Government advisor ready to 'die' for president 

Meanwhile, a senior advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he would personally defend the head of state with his own weapons and ammunition, as political tensions have continued to intensify ahead of the elections.

"I have two licensed guns and hundreds of bullets which I've had for years because of my rights," Yigit Bulut, chief economic advisor to Erdogan, told a live show broadcast on state-run TRT Haber late on Tuesday.

"Nobody can put their hands on the elected president of this country before I die, am shot or hanged. 

"I don't say it as Yigit Bulut. There are millions of citizens like me," he said.

Bulut is a former journalist who first became a advisor to Erdogan in 2013 during his premiership and then moved to the presidency with him after the August 2014 election.

Known for his provocative remarks, speculation that Bulut could be given a top job managing the economy have rattled financial markets in the last weeks.

'Death sentence' row

His comments come in response to a controversy over the portrayal in Turkish mainstream media of the death sentence handed down on Saturday by an Egyptian court to ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

Turkey's mass circulation Hurriyet newspaper headlined its report on the verdict "Death sentence with 52 percent", which was severely criticised by pro-government media and Erdogan himself for allegedly suggesting that the Turkish leader could share the same fate as Morsi.

Erdogan was elected president with 52 percent of the vote in the August 2014 election.

The president accused the Dogan Media Group, which owns Hurriyet, of threatening him with the death penalty against the deposed Egyptian leader.

In an editorial published Tuesday, Hurriyet called Erdogan's attack "unfounded" and wrote that the president had distorted the headline. 

"Mr President, what do you want from us?" it asked. 

But Bulut said he challenged whoever dared attack Erdogan.

"You cannot even lay a hand on the seat of this country's elected president before we die," he said.

"Whoever has the courage, whoever wants to try, whoever has the self-confidence, then I dare you."

Political tensions are spiralling in Turkey ahead of the polls, where the ruling AKP has its work cut out to win the constitutional majority needed to create a presidential system under Erdogan.

Bulut earned particular notoriety during the 2013 protests against Erdogan's rule, making a series of bizarre suggestions that the rallies had been organised by German airline Lufthansa or that his opponents were trying to kill the Turkish leader through "telekinesis".

In previous years before becoming an advisor, he had worked for media platforms that have sometimes been critical of Erdogan including the Radikal newspaper and CNN-Turk television channel.