The co-mayors of three districts of Turkey’s southeastern city of Hakkari were detained on Saturday as part of counterterrorism operations, officials announced.
Seferi Yılmaz, Adile Kozay and Servet Tunç, the elected co-mayors of Şemdinli, Yüksekova and Çukurca, respectively, were detained by police in their homes. Eight more people were included in the detentions in Çukurca.
The Turkish government claims that the growing number of arrests of Kurdish politicians at the national and local levels are part of the fight against terrorism. Leading Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtaş, who had campaigned against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ambition for an executive presidency, was arrested on Nov. 4. Nine other Kurdish deputies are also in prison in Turkey.
