Suspect in Turkish district governor's murder held

By Tugba Yardimci​

TRABZON, Turkey

The alleged mastermind behind last year’s killing of a Turkish regional governor has been arrested, according to the interior minister on Monday.

PKK terrorists killed Muhammet Fatih Safiturk, governor of southeastern Mardin province's Derik district, in a bomb attack on his office in November 2016.

In remarks made to a gathering in northern Trabzon province, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said the suspect was held on Monday morning.

Earlier, the minister tweeted: “We cannot pay our debt to you [Muhammet Fatih Safiturk] but you should know that we have held the plotter.”

The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU -- resumed its decades-old armed campaign in the country in July 2015.

Since then, more than 1,200 victims, including security personnel and civilians, have lost their lives in PKK attacks since the terror group resumed its decades-long campaign against the Turkish state.