Turkish police on Wednesday detained Alican Önlü, a deputy from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), on charges of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Media reports said Önlü was detained by border police at Ankara Esenboğa Airport and that he was heading to his hometown of Dersim.
Three district mayors from the HDP in the eastern province of Bitlis were also detained on Wednesday as part of a terrorism probe. Hizan Mayor İhsan Uğur, Mutki Mayor Özcan Birlik and Yolalan Mayor Felemez Aydın were detained as part of an operation against the PKK and the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), according to a statement from the Bitlis Governor’s Office on Wednesday.
Çağlar Demirel, another deputy of the HDP, the third largest party in Parliament, was arrested on Tuesday.
She was detained along with fellow deputy Besime Konca on Monday night as part of an investigation overseen by the Batman Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
With the arrest of Demirel, the number of jailed HDP deputies rose to 11. HDP Co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ had been arrested over alleged terror links on Nov. 4.
