'Detained mayors diverted tax funds for terror attacks'

BURSA, Turkey

Turkey's deputy prime minister Wednesday said that a number of mayors recently detained over alleged terrorist ties had illegally diverted taxpayers’ money into PKK accounts to fund terrorist attacks.

Numan Kurtulmus, speaking to journalists in the northwestern province of Bursa, said that politicians who support terrorism betray their constituents.

“The task of municipalities that have received 70-80 percent of the vote is not to dig trenches, to carry bombs to the trenches, or to support militants,” he said of the mayors recently detained over alleged links to the PKK terrorist organization.

"These people did not vote for them to dig trenches, to carry bombs. They voted to get services. Those who support terrorist organizations pay the price for this support,” he added.

Early Wednesday Turkish police detained the mayor of the southeastern city of Siirt, Tuncer Bakirhan, who belongs to the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), a sister party of the national opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

Last month, Diyarbakir's DBP Co-Mayors Gulten Kisanak and Firat Anli were remanded in custody as part of an investigation into terrorism.

Kurtulmus said the necessary decisions would be made on the detained mayors during the judicial process, stressing that the multilateral, multi-pronged fight against terrorism will continue.

“We are fighting simultaneously both the terrorist organizations, and all those providing logistics, intelligence, and political support and arms from inside and outside,” he said.

Kurtulmus said that terrorist groups are not just about a few thousand militants, adding, “The fugitive deputy of the PKK has political activities in the halls of Europe. If you want to do politics, why are you running away from Turkey?”

He said that there is a misinformation campaign in Europe against Turkey, one “trying to push Turkey into the corner with this propaganda.”

The PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU – resumed its decades-old armed campaign in July 2015.

Since then, PKK terrorists have martyred nearly 800 members of the security forces and claimed the lives of over 310 civilians, including women and children, while more than 10,000 PKK terrorists have been killed or apprehended in army operations.