Turkish police on Thursday night raided the homes of pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Co-chairs Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş and HDP deputy Ziya Pir, and took all three into custody.
A video released by the HDP’s official Twitter account in Turkish showed that police officers entered Yüksekdağ’s house after breaking the lock on the door. Yüksekdağ and other HDP officials are seen resisting the police as they attempt to detain her.
HDP’s official Twitter account in English announced that “At least 9 deputies of HDP [including] Co-chairs Demirtaş and Yüksekdağ have been taken into custody. Houses raided, doors broken.”
Demirtaş tweeted that police had appeared at his house in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey. The state-run Anadolu news agency reports he and his co-chair, Figen Yuksekdag, who was detained in Ankara, had refused to testify in a probe carried out by the Diyarbakir Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The midnight raid was first tweeted by her adviser, Sıtkı Görür, who said: “Police raided home of HDP Co-chair Figen Yüksekdağ in Ankara. They are breaking down the door now.”
At least 15 deputies are said to have been taken into custody, but the number is rising. Earlier in 2016, rules granting politicians parliamentary immunity were lifted under the state of emergency currently in place in Turkey.
Turkey accuses the HDP of links to Kurdish militant group the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Turkey.