139 HDP officials, members among recent Turkey mass arrest: party officials

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Those arrested this week by Turkish security forces for their alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) include 139 officials and members of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the party revealed on Wednesday.

Turkish security forces announced on Monday the arrest of 718 people across the country for their alleged links to the PKK.

“According to the information provided by the HDP’s Commission on Law Affairs and Human Rights, a total of at least 139 HDP members and executives have been detained in several provinces in the mentioned period,” Feleknas Uca and Hisyar Ozsoy, co-spokespersons of the HDP’s office for foreign affairs, said in a statement released on Wednesday.

They added that the arrests were made in Bursa, Van, Aydin, Diyarbakir, Ankara, Manisa, Mersin, Adana and Istanbul provinces.

“This wave of detentions against our party and democratic institutions has nothing to do with the law. Whenever peace is at stake and the government needs popular nationalist support, it targets the HDP and attacks our members by force,” said the spokespeople.

The PKK is an armed group fighting for greater political and cultural rights for Kurds in Turkey. Ankara has classified the PKK a terrorist organization.

Top Turkish officials have accused the HDP of being the political wing of the PKK, leading to the arrests of scores of their politicians - including former co-chairs and parliamentarians - and members in recent years on terror charges. Almost all of the party’s mayors - elected during 2019 elections - have been removed from office and some of them arrested. The HDP denies any links to the PKK.

Swedish foreign minister Ann Linde said on Tuesday that her country is “deeply worried” to see the arrests.

The mass arrest campaign followed Turkey’s recent short-lasting military operation against the PKK in the Kurdistan Region. Dubbed Operation Claw Eagle-2, the offensive began on February 10 and ended four days later.

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