UPDATES WITH MORE DETENTIONS OF SOCIAL MEDIA USERS
By Alptekin Soykan, Cankut Tasdan, Anil Bagrik, Yilmaz Kazandioglu, and Sertac Bulur
ISTANBUL (AA) – Police arrested dozens of members of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in separate operations across Turkey on Monday, according to police sources.
At least 21 members were detained in Istanbul, including HDP provincial co-heads Aysel Guzel and Dogan Erbas as well as district-level party heads, a police source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, said.
In a separate operation, 17 more HDP members, including the party’s Ankara provincial head, Ibrahim Binici, and other district-level officials were also detained in the capital, another police source, who also spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, said.
In western Turkey’s Manisa province, at least five people, including the HDP provincial and Salihli district heads, were detained in a similar operation.
Two suspects, including HDP executive Evin Konur and former provincial head of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Zubeyde Bor, were also detained in the southeastern Hakkari province.
At least 25 other people, including HDP provincial head Huseyin Beyaz, were held in Adana, as well as 93 others, including HDP provincial head Sadun Dogan, in Mersin, and 36 more in Gaziantep, including members of the HDP and DBP, the source added.
Some suspects were also accused of being members of the PKK terrorist organization or having spread PKK propaganda.
The arrests came after Saturday evening’s deadly blasts in Istanbul left 44 dead and dozens of others wounded. At around 10.30 p.m. (1930GMT), a car bomb went off outside a football stadium in the city’s Besiktas district, two hours after the end of a Turkish League football match.
Seconds later, a suicide bomb attack occurred in Macka Park in the same neighborhood.
A total of 13 suspects linked to the bombings have been arrested so far.
Twenty-six more suspects were also arrested for social media posts over Saturday night’s terror attack in Istanbul, anti-terror police said. Eight suspects were arrested in Istanbul, seven in Kayseri, and 11 in Izmir, police sources said. Those suspects allegedly shared pro-terror posts promoting PKK terrorist propaganda.
Last month, 13 HDP lawmakers were arrested, and 10, including Co-Chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, remain in custody awaiting trial on terrorism-related charges.
The lawmakers face prosecution under anti-terrorism legislation after their parliamentary immunity was lifted earlier this year.
The government has accused the HDP of having links to the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU.
