Turkey arrests 95 Kurds over alleged PKK links

Turkish police have detained 95 Kurds in the south-eastern of the country, accusing them of links to the separatist Kurdish rebels, security sources said Saturday.

REUTERS/Umit Bektas

The detainees reportedly included members of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and elected officials from the assemblies of the south-eastern province of Sirnak and the cities of Cizre and Semdinli.

The police started to raid the homes of party offices on Friday night and the operation went on until Saturday morning.

Demonstrations against the operations sparked clashes with police in Cizre on Friday night, while shops were closed in protest in the city on Saturday.

About 2,500 BDP members, including five MPs, were already in jail with charges of alleged links to the urban wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which took up arms in Kurdish-majority southeast Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives.