Turkey: HDP official accused of aiding PKK terrorist

ANKARA

An official of a Turkish opposition party linked to terrorism and a terrorist he was allegedly leading to a hideout were arrested together in eastern Turkey on Wednesday, officials announced.

Acting on a tip that YPG/PKK terrorist Aziz Oruc had entered Agri, eastern Turkey, from the Iranian border, security forces arresting him found him accompanied by Abdullah Ekelek, district head for Dogubayazit, Agri of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), said an Interior Ministry statement.

Ekelek is thought to have been leading Oruc to a hideout.

The two were taken to a police station for questioning.

The Turkish government accuses the HDP of links with the terrorist group YPG/PKK, and a large number of local HDP mayors have been suspended from office, facing terrorism charges.

For over 100 days, dozens of families have been staging a sit-in protest outside HDP offices in the southeastern Diyarbakir province, accusing party officials of helping the PKK terror group forcibly recruiting their children.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the PKK's Syrian offshoot.

* Writing by Ali Murat Alhas