HDP deputy co-chair arrested for membership in PKK

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Deputy Co-Chair Alp Altınörs was arrested for being a member of the PKK terrorist organization as part of an investigation launched by Tokat Prosecutor's Office. Altınörs had been detained for recruiting young people to the PKK in the mountains in eastern and southeastern provinces of Turkey and was later arrested for his links to the PKK. A total of 15 others have been detained along with Altınörs, six of whom were also arrested.

The pro-PKK HDP has long been condemned for failing to distance itself from the terrorist group and many HDP deputies and mayors have been blamed for having close ties to the PKK.

After the June 7 elections, many Kurdish citizens in southeastern provinces protested against the HDP amid a rise in PKK terror and violence, saying the party neglected their demand for solving the Kurdish issue in Parliament through democratic means.

A mayor in Turkey's eastern Erzurum province was charged for his role in allegedly establishing a 'justice commission' on behalf of the PKK terrorist group, late in 2015. The PKK, which is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and European Union, renewed its armed campaign against the Turkish state late last July.

Turkey has been conducting operations against the PKK since then, after a two-and-a-half year lull in the fighting ended.