Turkey detains more than 230 as pressure on opposition ramps up
The detentions include pro-Kurdish politicians, rights activists and journalists.
ANKARA — More than 230 people, including a pro-Kurdish mayor, rights activists and journalists, were detained in Turkey on Tuesday as the government ramps up pressure on Kurdish political leaders as well as groups it deems close to them.
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said that 231 people were detained in operations held in 30 different provinces across Turkey, including Istanbul and the capital Ankara as well as several other provinces in the country’s predominantly Kurdish southeast.
The detainees are accused of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), according to Yerlikaya. The PKK has been waging an armed campaign against Turkish forces for Kurdish self-rule inside Turkey since 1984 and is considered a terrorist organization by Ankara and Washington as well as a majority of European capitals.
The pro-Kurdish DEM Party said in a statement that among the detainees are numerous party members, including Sevtap Akdag, deputy co-chair of the party, and Cengiz Dundar, mayor of Kayapinar, a subdistrict of Turkey’s largest predominantly Kurdish southeastern province of Diyarbakir.
