Turkish courts on Friday arrested nine pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputies including the party’s co-chairs, who were detained in the early hours of Friday following police raids on their homes.
HDP Co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ and deputies İdris Baluken, Leyla Birlik, Nursel Aydoğan, Selma Irmak, Ferhat Encü and Gülser Yıldırım were arrested on Friday afternoon.
Counterterrorism police in the early hours of Friday raided HDP headquarters in Ankara and conducted a search of the premises while 12 deputies, including co-chairs, were detained in police operations in Ankara and the southeastern provinces. The operation was launched after the HDP deputies refused to testify about alleged crimes linked to “terrorist propaganda.
Three deputies, Ziya Pir, İmam Taşçıer and Sırrı Süreyya Önder, were released on probation early on Friday.
Abdullah Zeydan was also referred to court and arrested later on Friday night.
HDP Şırnak deputy Faysal Sarıyıldız and Van deputy Tuğba Hezer Öztürk, who also face detention, have been reported to be out of the country.