Istanbul, Sep 8 () - A Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy has stirred controversy on social media with an old tweet in which he showed support for an al-Qaeda-linked group, hours after he participated in a protest against daily Hürriyet in which the newspaper’s headquarters was pelted with stones.

Abdürrahim Boynukalın, an AKP MP and the head of its youth organization, had vowed in a fiery speech in front of the newspaper building which was attacked in Istanbul to “make Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the president” with extended powers - regardless of the result of the Nov. 1 election.

In his speech, Boynukalın targeted Erdoğan’s critics, claiming they supported the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and threatened to force journalists out of Turkey after Nov. 1.

Boynukalın’s own Twitter account came under scrutiny after the speech in which he praised “martyrs,” referring to Turkish security forces killed in recent PKK attacks.

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