Turkish Police Arrest Leaders of the Peoples' Democratic Party

Turkish police forces arrested 11 members of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which is supported by the Kurds, including two of its leaders, on Friday, November 4. According to the Associated Press, Selahattin Demirtaş was arrested at his home in Diyarbakır in southern Turkey, and Figen Yüksekdağ is being interrogated in Ankara. The Turkish Ministry of Interior announced that 11 members of the HDP, including its two leaders, have been detained. The French news agency reported that the arrests of the HDP leaders are part of extensive police actions against this party, which currently holds 59 seats in the Turkish parliament and is the main party advocating for the rights of the Kurdish ethnic minority in the country. Selahattin Demirtaş tweeted at 1:30 AM on Friday that police forces had entered his home and that he was on the verge of arrest. The NTV television network reported that the HDP leaders were arrested on charges of promoting the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Meanwhile, the official Turkish news agency stated that another charge against Selahattin Demirtaş is incitement to violence during the bloody protests in 2014. According to Anadolu, the arrested individuals were detained for refusing to answer questions from the prosecutor's office. Reports indicate that Turkish police have gone to the HDP headquarters and are examining the party's documents and records. Earlier in the summer, Turkish police arrested 17 members of the HDP during a raid on the party's offices in Istanbul. The arrests of the HDP leaders come at a time when a state of emergency law has been in effect in the country since the failed coup attempt on July 15. Turkey has witnessed political tensions and widespread arrests of opposition figures in recent years. Since the beginning of a new round of clashes between government forces and the PKK, these tensions have escalated in Kurdish regions, but following the failed coup attempt on July 25, political tensions across the country have reached unprecedented levels, with police forces arresting thousands and tens of thousands being dismissed from their jobs. According to the French news agency, on Monday, 13 members of the editorial board of the Cumhuriyet newspaper, including its editor-in-chief, were arrested.