HDP Co-Chairs Figen Yuksekdag (right), Selahattin Demirtas, and 13 HDP lawmakers were arrested in Diyarbekir on Nov. 3, 2016 (Photo: DoÄŸan News Agency)
DIYARBEKIR, Turkey (Reuters)—Turkish authorities arrested the leaders of the country’s main pro-Kurdish opposition party in a terrorism probe on Friday, drawing European and U.N. condemnation of a widening crackdown on dissent under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, co-leaders of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), were jailed pending trial after being held in overnight raids, officials said. Ten other HDP lawmakers were also detained, although some were later released.
The arrest of elected members of parliament’s third largest party, and the detention or suspension of more than 110,000 officials since a failed coup in July, may “go beyond what is permissible,â€
