US and EU alarm over arrests of Kurdish MPs in Turkey

Dentention of HDP leaders and MPs followed by bombing in Kurdish-majority Diyarbakir that leaves nine dead and more than 100 wounded.

Demonstrators scuffle with riot police during a protest against the arrest of pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party lawmakers, in Ankara, Turkey. Umit Bektas / Reuters

Diyarbakir, Turkey // Turkey on Friday jailed the two co-leaders of the country’s main pro-Kurdish party and several of its MPs in an unprecedented crackdown that drew alarmed reactions from the United States and Europe.

The arrests were followed hours later by a deadly car bombing in the main Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir that killed nine people and injured more than 100. Officials blamed the blast outside a police station on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

A court in the south-eastern city remanded in custody Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag after they were detained along with 10 other MPs.

Including Mr Demirtas and Ms Yuksekdag, seven of the party’s MPs were placed under arrest pending trial.

The HDP, the third largest party in parliament, seeks to promote the cause of Turkey’s Kurdish minority and defend the rights of Kurds as well as women and workers.

Authorities accuse the party of being a PKK front and failing to distance itself from terror, claims it has always denied.

The United States and European Union both raised alarm over the arrests, which marked a new escalation of the clampdown under the state of emergency imposed following a coup attempt on July 15.

With tensions again escalating in Turkey nearly four months later, authorities slapped restrictions on social media including messaging services such as WhatsApp.

Prime minister Binali Yildirim confirmed the move, saying such measures were imposed from “time to time” as a precaution and would be lifted once the danger had passed.

The turbulence also battered the Turkish lira, which was trading at 3.17 to the US dollar, a new historic low, after the arrests.

The detentions of the HDP leaders marked a new stage in the crackdown on leading pro-Kurdish politicians as president Recep Tayyip Erdogan battles to destroy the PKK.

Mr Demirtas has been charged with “membership of an armed group” – a reference to the PKK – while Ms Yuksekdag is charged with making “terror propaganda” for the group, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

The HDP said the goal of the government’s actions was to shut down the party, but it vowed not to surrender to “dictatorial policies”.

“It means the end of democracy in Turkey,” the party said.

In a statement read by his lawyers, Mr Demirtas said he was the victim of a “civilian coup by the government and the palace”.

After his jailing he managed to shout, “We will definitely win!.” The phrase in Turkish, #MutlakaKazanacagiz, immediately became a top-trending hashtag.

The EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Twitter she was “extremely worried” over the detentions and would call a meeting of EU ambassadors in Ankara.

The US assistant secretary of state Tom Malinowski said on Twitter that Washington was “deeply troubled that government of Turkey has detained HDP leaders and other MPs while blocking internet access”.

German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier summoned Turkey’s envoy to the foreign ministry in Berlin, a ministry source said, adding Germany “could not remain silent”.

Among the HDP legislators placed under arrest by the courts was Idris Baluken, head of the party’s parliamentary faction.

Three MPs – Ziya Pir, Imam Tascier and Sirri Sureyya Onder – were allowed to go free under judicial control, the Turkish equivalent of bail, while hearings for the other detained MPs were still being held.

The two co-mayors of Diyarbakir were detained last month.

The arrests come amid a clampdown that critics say has gone well beyond targeting the actual plotters of July’s coup attempt. Thousands of soldiers, teachers and civil servants have been dismissed or arrested over alleged links to the plot, which the government has blamed on the former Erdogan ally Fethullah Gulen, a cleric who now lives in exile in the United States.

On Monday, 13 staff from the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper, including the editor-in-chief, were arrested.

* Agence France-Presse