The leaders of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic party (HDP) and at least 10 other MPs have been arrested by Turkish authorities over charges linking them to “terrorist propaganda” on Friday.
Those arrested included HDP leaders Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ in early morning raids that also saw internet services cut off to the Kurdish southeast.
The Turkish government has accused the HDP of being the political wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which for decades has been fighting for a separate state. Commenting on the arrests, Turkey's Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said the HDP leaders had failed to respond and co-operate with ongoing counter terrorism investigations. "They did not respect the law," he said.
Meanwhile the HDP said it “calls on the international community to react against Erdogan Regime’s coup,” in a message posted on Twitter. Last month, the mayors of Diyarbakir, Turkey's largest Kurdish-majority city, were also arrested, reports the BBC.
A HDP parliamentarian who is currently abroad told them that "this is an unlawful hijacking of HDP parliamentarians". "This crackdown tonight is nothing to do with procedural law, criminal law, any law whatsoever or the constitution," Ertugrul Kurkcu added.
Hours later a car bomb was detonated in Diyarbakir, killing eight people and injured more than 100. The PKK was blamed for the blast had Turkish authorities.