DIYARBAKIR (Turkey), Oct 21 — Turkish police today detained three mayors from a main pro-Kurdish party on suspicions of “membership in a terror group” and “disseminating terror propaganda”, the official Anadolu news agency reported.
The three local mayors from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Kayapinar, Bismil and Kocakoy in the Kurdish majority southeast, as well as the dismissed mayor of Diyarbakir, Selcuk Mizrakli, were taken as part of an investigation launched by prosecutors, Anadolu said.
In August, Mizrakli was one of the three mayors removed from office over alleged links to Kurdish militants, along with those from Mardin and Van provinces in eastern Turkey.
The three — members of the HDP elected in March—were suspended over alleged ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) listed as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies.
The Turkish government has repeatedly accused the HDP of links to the PKK, which has fought a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state for much of the past 35 years. — AFP
