Security force vehicle repair company arrested for financing PKK in Turkey’s Diyarbakır

DİYARBAKIR – Doğan News Agency

A total of 14 people have been arrested in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakır over charges of financing the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), including a repair dealer responsible for the maintenance and repair of armored vehicles belonging to security forces in the province.

According to a statement released by the local governor’s office on Jan. 3, some 53 people were detained between Nov. 23, 2016 and Dec. 1, 2017 in the Lice district for “financing terrorism” and 13 were sent back to custody. The remaining 40 were released, of which five of them were on a judicial control decision.

Another suspect, who had been charged for “opposing the law for the prevention of terrorism financing,” was remanded in custody on Dec. 11, 2017 by a Diyarbakır court, the statement said.

“As a result of the analysis, a suspect, a dealer of more than one company, who has been undertaking in the repair and maintenance works of armored vehicles belonging to security forces in Diyarbakır, was arrested on Dec. 11, 2017 due to evidence that had been collected showing he had provided financial support to separatist terrorist organization [PKK] members,” the governor’s office said.

The arrests came after security forces seized “organizational documents” belonging to the PKK during separate raids conducted in the province since 2016. The seized documents pointed a finger at some suspects for their alleged connections to the PKK, which led to an investigation by the local prosecutor’s office.

The detentions came after the “seized evidence showed 9,124,000 Turkish Liras [$2.4 million], $474,900 and 50,000 euros had been collected” in a bid to transfer this money to the PKK, the governor’s office said.