Turkey detains Mardin mayor "in HDP terror probe"

PanARMENIAN.Net - Merdin Metropolitan Mayor Ahmet Turk has been detained as part of the ongoing terror probe on links between the PKK and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) municipalities, Daily Sabah reports.

Turk was suspended from duty on Thursday, November 17, and was detained along with Artuklu district Mayor Emin Irmak on Monday.

According to reports, police detained both mayors in their houses.

Earlier this month, 13 lawmakers from the HDP were arrested. 10 of them, including co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, remain in custody awaiting trial on "terrorism-related charges."

In October, the DBP co-mayors from Diyarbakır, the largest city in the southeast, were arrested and jailed pending trial on terrorism charges.

Februniye Akyol, co-mayor in the city of Merdin and the only Christian mayor in Turkey has also been ousted by the government.