Turkish police on Thursday detained 10 staff members of the opposition-run municipality in southern Mersin province on charges of “conducting propaganda on behalf of a terrorist organization,” opposition Halk TV reported.
The employees of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP)-run municipality were taken into police custody in the early morning hours, Halk TV said, after arrest warrants were issued for them following an investigation into claims of that they were disseminating terrorist propaganda.
Earlier this year, a local member of parliament from the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) – junior coalition partner to the ruling Justice and Development Party – claimed the CHP municipality employed “terrorists,” in an apparent reference to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group that has been at war for Kurdish self-rule for 40 years.
MHP lawmaker Olcay Kilavuz also accused the mayor of Mersin, Vahap Seçer, was “a national security” hazard as he urged the Interior Ministry to take action over the matter, the Independent Turkish reported.
The Turkish government frequently accuses opposition groups of terror links.
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu in December claimed that the CHP municipality of Istanbul had employed over 550 staff members linked to the PKK, a claim dismissed by the main opposition party.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), the third largest party in Turkish parliament, has been under a years-long crackdown by Ankara, who accuses it of links to the PKK. The HDP denies having any militant ties.
Ahval