Ruling party official kidnapped in Turkey's southeast

By Ekrem Payan

SIRNAK, Turkey

An official from the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party was abducted Saturday by suspected PKK terrorists in southeast Turkey, a security source said.

Fikret Adiyaman, the president of the party’s youth branch in Beytussebap, Sirnak province, was seized alongside his cousin Naci Adiyaman when their car was stopped near the village of Ayvalik, which lies around 11 kilometers (7 miles) north of the Syrian border.

The car was torched and security forces launched a search for the pair, the source said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to media.

The cousins are from a leading family in the pro-state Kurdish Jirki tribe.

An older member of the family, Tahir Adiyaman, stood as an AK Party candidate for Sirnak in the June 2015 general election. He leads the local village guard militia and was injured in a PKK attack in April.

The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU -- resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in July 2015. Since then, more than 600 security personnel have been martyred and more than 7,000 PKK terrorists killed.