Turkey detains former HDP party officials for PKK links

ANKARA

Turkish authorities have detained some 46 people, including former local officials from People’s Democratic Party (HDP), who are suspected of having links to PKK terrorist group, in part of the Kobani investigation, local news agencies reported yesterday.

The detained are among 91 suspects sought by a chief prosecutor for allegedly “providing financial resources on behalf” of PKK.

They are accused of being a part of the PKK’s economic structure of money-laundering and of taking instructions from PKK commander Murat Karayılan, the agencies reported.
According to reports, the suspects include former deputy mayors, former party treasurers and former city council members of HDP.

There was no immediate comment from the HDP which is fighting legal moves toward its closure at Turkey’s Constitutional Court.

Prosecutors accuse the party of colluding with the PKK and of seeking to “destroy the unity of the state.” They are demanding that the party be dissolved, that it be deprived of treasury funding and that about 450 party members be barred from holding political office for five years. The HDP denies the accusations.

The Kobani investigation refer to protests in 2014 in Turkey’s 16 provinces, which claimed the lives of 53 people, including two police officers, left hundreds of people injured and caused extensive damage to property.

The protests erupted across Turkey during the Eid al-Adha holiday on Oct. 6 that year, a day after ISIL militants entered the Syrian border town of Kobani, also known as Ayn Al-Arab.