Turkey arrests another Kurdish lawmaker
Turkish police on Monday arrested the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) lawmaker Nihat Akdogan in Hakkari Province which he represents at the Turkish Parliament.
ANKARA, Turkey (Kurdistan24) – Turkish police on Monday arrested the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) lawmaker Nihat Akdogan in Hakkari Province which he represents at the Turkish Parliament.
Akdogan was the 13th HDP lawmaker arrested since Friday when Turkish anti-terror police units raided the houses of co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas, Figen Yuksekdag, and other MPs after midnight in six different cities.
Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister and Government Spokesman Numan Kurtulmus announced the arrest of the Kurdish lawmaker who he said was “captured” at the entrance of Hakkari.
Turkish authorities have conditionally released MPs Ziya Pir and Imam Tascier while remanding leaders Demirtas, Yuksekdag, and nine other lawmakers to prison.
Demirtas was transferred on a military chopper to a high-security prison in the northwestern city of Edirne on the border with Bulgaria on Saturday night.
On the other hand, Yuksekdag was put in jail in the city of Kocaeli near Istanbul where the detained co-mayors of Diyarbakir Gultan Kisanak and Firat Anli have been held since late October.
MP Faysal Sariyildiz who represents Sirnak and MP Tugba Hezer Ozturk who has a constituency in Van were the remaining “escapees” according to the Turkish Deputy PM.
Kurtulmus was responding to a question by a Turkish reporter who claimed both were last seen in the Belgian capital of Brussels.
Turkey could request the extradition of the two Kurdish lawmakers from the Belgian authorities, said Kurtulmus.
On Saturday in Diyarbakir, Turkish police violently detained former MP Sebahat Tuncel, the co-chair of another pro-Kurdish faction, the Democratic Regions Party (DBP).
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday accused the jailed Kurdish politicians of terrorism, saying “if you act like a terrorist, you will be treated like one.”
One of the two released MPs, Tascier of Diyarbakir, told Kurdistan24 during a Sunday interview that a Turkish prosecutor questioned him about the meetings he attended and speeches he made in the past.
“All of the charges they brought in front of me were political, I as well as Mr. Demirtas and other friends refused to honor them with an answer,” said Tascier.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany
(Kurdistan24 Ankara bureau contributed to this report)
