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Three Kurdish district mayors detained in Turkey’s southeast Plus 9 others in Çukurca

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A police vehicle is seen in front of the Şemdinli Municipality on Dec 3. / DHA Photo

A police vehicle is seen in front of the Şemdinli Municipality on Dec 3. / DHA Photo

The mayors of three districts of Turkey’s southeastern province of Hakkari have been detained on Dec. 3, while searches were being conducted in the municipality buildings, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Police officers, who were operating under the Hakkari Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, have detained the mayors of Çukurca, Yüksekova and Şemdinli as part of an ongoing terror investigation.

Within the scope of simultaneous operations conducted in Hakkari, first the Çukurca Mayor Servet Tunç, who is from the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), the sister party of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), was detained early on Dec. 3.

A total of nine people have been detained in Çukurca, including Tunç and Deputy Mayor Hilal Duman.
Adile Kozay, the mayor of Yüksekova from the DBP, was detained later in the day, which was followed by the detention of Şemdinli Mayor Seferi Yılmaz, who is also from the DBP.

Turkish flags were hung on the municipality buildings following the raids.

Dutch journalist detained in Turkey for the second time

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dt.thumbA Dutch journalist based in southeastern Diyarbakır province was detained Sept. 6 by the police for the second time, Netherland official news agency ANP has reported.

Frederike Geerdink was detained at around 2 a.m., as she was following the Democratic Peoples’ Party’s (HDP) program.

“I am in custody in Yüksekova,” Geerdink tweeted, adding she was with members of the human shield group who were also detained.

Thomas Bruning, the secretary general of Netherlands Journalists (NVJ), told ANP it was unacceptable the journalists had been arrested in Turkey.

The report also said the Dutch Embassy in Ankara was closely watching Geerdink’s detainment.

Geerdink was first detained in Diyarbakır in January at a time that coincided with the visit of Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders, who had harshly criticized the journalist’s detainment.

A lawsuit was opened against Geerdink on charges of producing “terrorist propaganda” on behalf of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) however she was acquitted of those charges in April.

Geerdink has been working in Turkey since 2006 and has been in Diyarbakır for three years.

Citizen of Turkey detained in Armenia over drug smuggling case

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January 18, 2014 | 18:41

YEREVAN. – Armenia’s National Security Service reported details about a major drug smuggling case.

189912One of the organizers, 40-year-old citizen of Turkey Osman Ugurlu, was detained in Yerevan on Saturday.  The investigators discovered that a drug cache was made in the territory of Turkey with the participation of Ugurlu to be put into a truck in order to transport drugs from Iran to Georgia via Armenia.

As reported earlier, the truck with drugs heading to Georgia was found on January 17 at Meghri customs point on the border with Iran. During the inspection, border guards found 927 kilograms of heroin. he truck driver, 61 -year-old Georgian citizen Avtandil Martiashvili was detained.