06 December 2016•Update: 06 December 2016
By Hasan Namli
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey
Turkish police arrested two mayors in the southeast province of Diyarbakir on terrorism charges early Tuesday morning.
The mayor of Diyarbakir’s Kayapinar district, Mehmet Ali Aydin, and Yenisehir mayor Selim Kurbanoglu were detained as part of a terrorism-linked probe, security sources said.
Diyarbakir’s public prosecutor gave orders for the arrest of the two mayors, who are also members of Turkey's Democratic Regions Party (DBP).
Anti-terror police arrested the mayors at their homes on charges of “being a member of a terrorist organization” and “propagandizing terror”, the security source, who spoke anonymously due to restrictions on talking to media, said.
A police search of the area’s main municipal offices continues.
In October, the DBP co-mayors of Diyarbakir city, the largest in Turkey’s southeast, were arrested and jailed pending trial on terrorism charges.
The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU -- resumed its decades-old armed campaign in July last year.
Since then, more than 300 civilians and nearly 800 security personnel have been martyred. Around 8,000 PKK terrorists have been killed or apprehended.
