Turkish police teams on Tuesday detained two district mayors in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır as part of a terrorism investigation.
Kayapınar district Mayor Ali Aydın and Yenişehir district Mayor Selim Kurbanoğlu were detained as part of an investigation conducted by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. Both mayors are from the pro-Kurdish Democratic Regions Party (DBP).
Turkey has stepped up its crackdown on Kurdish politicians in recent months. The Turkish government arrested 10 deputies from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) last month and has seized the administration of dozens of municipalities and jailed dozens of mayors in southeastern Turkey over the past months.
The Turkish government claims that the growing number of arrests of Kurdish politicians at the national and local levels is part of the fight against terrorism.