Siirt Co-mayor from the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Tuncer Bakırhan, who was detained on Wednesday morning along with two other Kurdish mayors, was arrested on Wednesday evening.
Bakırhan was detained after the Siirt Public Prosecutor’s Office issued a warrant for him as part of an investigation into the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Mehmet Ali Bul and Nurhayat Altun, the co-mayors of Tunceli from the DBP, were also detained by police on Wednesday morning.
Bakırhan, who had stood trial at the Siirt 1st High Criminal Court, was handed down a one-year prison sentence at hisfinal hearing on Oct. 28. He was convicted of disseminating propaganda for a terrorist organization.
Turkish courts on Nov. 4 also arrested nine pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputies including the party’s Co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ. The HDP deputies were arrested after they refused to testify about alleged crimes linked to “terrorist propaganda.” One more HDP deputy was arrested on Nov. 5, bringing the total number of HDP deputies under arrest to nine.
Diyarbakır Co-mayors Gültan Kışanak and Fırat Anlı, and former HDP deputy Ayla Akat Ata, were also arrested in late October on terrorism charges.