Behçet Yıldırım, a deputy from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) who was detained at Adıyaman Airport in eastern Turkey on Monday morning, was released later on Monday.
A detention warrant was recently issued for Yıldırım by the Adıyaman 1st High Criminal Court on the grounds that he failed to testify to the court in trials in which he faces charges of aiding a terrorist organization and disseminating the propaganda of a terrorist organization.
Yıldırım announced his detention from his Twitter account on Monday morning. “I am being detained at Adıyaman Airport,” he wrote.
A travel ban was imposed on the deputy after his release.
Turkey has stepped up its crackdown on Kurdish politicians in recent months. Trustees have been appointed to dozens of municipalities in the country’s predominantly Kurdish Southeast, while hundreds of local Kurdish politicians have been arrested on terror charges. There are currently 12 HDP deputies behind bars.
The developments have attracted widespread criticism from the region and Western countries.
