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Another pro-Kurdish mayor replaced as detentions continue in southeast Turkey

Police detained more than 50 people on alleged terror links in southeast Turkey a day after yet another mayor with the People's Democratic Party was replaced with a state-appointed trustee.
TOPSHOT - Supporters of Turkey's main pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) party cheer as they celebrate the Kurdish New Year during a campaign rally in Istanbul on March 24, 2019 ahead of the March 31 local elections. - Under daily attack from Turkish President and with dozens of its mayors in jail, HDP is fighting an uphill battle for this month's local elections and hopes to mobilise its supporters in the vote to capture municipal mayor posts and local councils. (Photo by Yasin AKGUL / AFP)

ISTANBUL — More than 50 people were detained during early morning house raids in southeast Turkey Tuesday. They included Musa Aydin, co-chair of the Gaziantep provincial branch of the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP).

According to the state-funded Anadolu news agency, the suspects, most of which are women and include Free Women Movement spokesperson Ayse Gokkan and journalist Ayse Guney, are charged with having links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been waging a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.

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