Turkey detains 11 pro-Kurdish lawmakers
Turkey’s Interior Ministry says authorities detained 11 pro-Kurdish lawmakers, including both party co-chairs, as part of ongoing terror-related investigations.
The ministry released a statement early Friday listing People’s Democratic Party, or HDP, co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag and other senior party officials.
Demirtas wrote on Twitter: “Police officials are at the door to my house in Diyarbakir with a detention warrant.”
The ministry says the detention orders were issued by the chief public prosecutors of the southeastern provinces of Diyarbakir, Sirnak, Hakkari, Van and Bingol.
The government accuses the HDP of being the political arm of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, an accusation the HDP rejects.
Earlier this week Diyarbakir mayor Gultan Kisanak was arrested on terror-related charges and replaced by an appointee.
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