Turkey: "We'll chop their heads off," Hezbollah supporter says to camera

A criminal investigation was launched in Turkey over the things a man said in a street interview in the Kurdish-majority city of Batman. The man named Ismail Cevher Kasimoglu identified himself as an "adherent of Hezbollah" during the interview, and threatened opposition figures saying, "We're ready for jihad, and we'll chop their heads off."

He said in the interview that he will vote for Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the coming presidential election, adding:

"Some will vote for the jackals. These are all seeds of Jews, of Armenians. Tell them, if they dare touch him [possibly referring to Erdogan], we'll chop their heads off. We are ready for jihad. We are men of jihad, you know? We are ready for jihad, and we sure will chop their heads off."

Targeting main opposition leader and opposition's presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, he remarked:

"That Kilicdaroglu and all those dogs should better watch their steps, and there is not much time left anyway... Not much time left for them to wander around freely here."

He also targeted independent opposition candidate Muharrem Ince:

"Muharrem Ince has said they'll abolish religious cults. You just try to do that, I'll slash every part of you..."

He identified his political affiliation, saying:

"We are adherents of Hezbollah (...) We are supporters of the state, we defend the state."

Kurdish Islamist Huda Par (the Free Cause Party), who has its roots in the Hezbollah group, earlier announced its support for Erdogan, and the officials of Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) said that Huda Par's parliamentary candidates will run under AKP.

Kasimoglu was detained on Thursday in the context of a criminal investigation launched over his remarks in the interview.

Turkish news agency DHA released a video in which the man says he was offended by the negative remarks of an interviewee who called the state "a gang," and that he couldn't restrain himself from overreacting "out of his love for the state."

"I'm not a member of any terrorist organization, I'm an adherent of my state and nation" he added and apologized for the remarks he made "out of anger."