DIYARBAKIR, Turkey
One more suspect has been taken into custody in connection with recent violent incidents in Turkey's southeastern province of Diyarbakir that left four people, including a conservative party member dead, authorities said Thursday.
The latest detention brings the total number of suspects in custody to 18, Diyarbakir Chief Public Prosecutor's office said.
On Tuesday, gunmen had shot dead a member of the conservative pro-Kurdish Huda-Par member and chairman of Yeni Ihya-Der charity, Aytac Baran, in the province’s Sehitlik town. Following Baran’s murder, clashes took place in the area that left three more people dead and six people injured, including three journalists, a police official and a hospital worker.
Huda-Par Chairman Huseyin Yilmaz alleged that Yeni Ihya-Der members had been threatened by the Patriotic Revolutionist Youth Movement and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on several occasions in the past.
On Wednesday, pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) chief Selahattin Demirtas denied his party’s involvement in the murder of the Huda-Par member.
Authorities continue to investigate the incident.
