Turkish police detain veteran Kurdish politician in southeast
DIYARBAKIR -- Turkish police on Monday detained a veteran Kurdish politician and a mayor in the southeastern province of Mardin, security sources said, the latest Kurds to be held as part of a wider crackdown on government opponents since a failed coup in July.
Ahmet Turk, 74, who was first elected in 1973 to represent Mardin in the national parliament and served as a lawmaker until 2015, was detained at home in what the state-run Anadolu agency said was part of an "ongoing terror investigation".
The authorities also detained Emin Irmak, the co-mayor of a district within Mardin. Both were stripped of office last week by the government in a crackdown which has seen at least 34 elected mayors removed from municipalities in the largely Kurdish southeast over suspected militant links.
