Abducted soldiers released in southeastern Turkey

DİYARBAKIR

DHA Photo

The specialized sergeants who were abducted by an armed group last week in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır have been released.

The soldiers were handed over to the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) co-chairs Pervin Buldan and İdris Buluken, HDP deputy head Sırrı Süreyya Önder and the BDP’s provincial co-chair Zübeyde Zümrüt.

The armed people were among those who were protesting the construction of a gendarmerie post in Abalı village. The group kidnapped the soldiers after discovering them while conducting an identity check on a bus that was stopped on a road due to the protest.

The politicians went to Diyarbakır and met with the protesters to listen their demands.

The kidnapped soldiers were released following the meeting and handed to Lice district governor Tunahan Efendioğlu and a military delegation at around 08:50 pm on May 1 by politicians.

Last week, BDP co-leader Selahattin Demirtaş said they launched all of initiatives for the soldiers’ release. The BDP shares the same grassroots with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

It was reported that the PKK militants abducted the soldiers as a reaction to the building of military bases in the area.

“There is an increasing resistance and tension in Lice against the building of bases,” Buldan told Al Jazeera Turkey earlier this week on the issue.