Five local politicians from Turkey’s eastern province of Bitlis were arrested on terrorism charges on Friday.
Among the arrestees are Bitlis Co-mayors Hüseyin Olan and Nevin Daşdemir, and Bitlis’s Güroymak Municipality Mayor Mehmet Emin Özkan.
Senaye Ata, Güroymak’s deputy mayor, and Nazime Avras, Bitlis branch head of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), were also arrested.
Turkey has stepped up its crackdown on Kurdish politicians in recent months. Trustees have been appointed to dozens of municipalities in the country’s predominantly Kurdish Southeast, while Turkish courts earlier this month arrested 10 HDP deputies including the party’s co-chairs. (Turkey Purge)