Turkish
security forces have arrested a high-ranking official of the
pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) over an investigation
related to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group as
Ankara presses ahead with a massive clampdown on members of the
opposition party
A police
source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a counter-terrorism
team had detained Aysel Tugluk in the capital, Ankara, on Monday
morning as part of an investigation launched by the Diyarbakir Chief
Public Prosecutor's Office against the PKK and the Kurdistan
Communities Union (KCK), an alliance of pro-Kurdish groups. Tugluk
has been taken to police headquarters and will be later transferred
to the southeastern province of Diyarbakir.
Last month,
13 HDP legislators were arrested over alleged links to the PKK
militant group. Party leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag
remain in custody along with eight others, waiting to stand trial on
terrorism-related charges.
A shaky
ceasefire between the PKK, which has been calling for an autonomous
Kurdish region since 1984, and the Turkish government collapsed in
July 2015. Attacks on Turkish security forces have soared ever since.
Over the
past few months, Turkish ground and air forces have been carrying out
operations against the PKK positions in the country’s troubled
southeastern border region as well as Iraq’s semi-autonomous
Kurdistan region and northern Syria.
Source:
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