Van Mayor arrested in KCK probe

VAN - Doğan News Agency

Municipal workers in Van protest the arrest of Van Mayor Bekir Kaya. DHA photo

Van Mayor Bekir Kaya and two others were arrested yesterday in the ongoing Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) probe, thus raising the number of jailed mayors from Peace and Democracy Party to 33.

Kaya was arrested along with the BDP’s Van Provincial Head Cüneyt Caniş and İhsan Güler, Van’s Başkale district’s former mayor on charges of being a member of a terrorist organization.

“The number of the arrested deputies were already 32, now we add another one to the list and it may even increase,” BDP’s deputy parliamentary group leader Hasip Kaplan told the Hürriyet Daily News yesterday in a phone interview.

The mayors in prison pending trial are accused of being members of the KCK, the alleged urban wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Kerem Akdoğan, Kaya’s lawyer, said they will object to the court’s decision.

“The evidence presented in the file has no legal value. The operations of the municipality are shown as if they are done for the KCK,” he said.