District mayor arrested in eastern Turkey due to PKK links

The mayor of the Halfeti district of the southeastern Şanlıurfa province was arrested on Friday as part of an ongoing anti-terrorism probe against the PKK terrorist organization.

Şanlıurfa Police Department's anti-terror unit arrested Mustafa Bayram as part of an anti-PKK probe. The mayor is a member of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), which is a local wing of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

Police teams also searched the area's main municipal office. Besides Bayram, 16 out of 24 people with issued arrest warrants were also taken into custody.

Officers are searching for the remaining seven suspects, the source added.

On Nov. 24, the mayor of Turkey's eastern Bitlis city, Mayor Hüseyin Olan as well as Nevin Daşdemir Dağkıran, an alderman in the municipality, were arrested.

Earlier in November, the mayor of Tunceli, Mehmet Ali Bul, Van Mayor Bekir Kaya from the DBP and four other municipality officials were arrested.

On Nov. 21, two suspended mayors, Ahmet Türk from the Mardin province and Emin Irmak from the province's Artuklu district, were detained.

Also last month, 13 lawmakers from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) were arrested. Ten, including co-leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yüksekdağ, remain in custody awaiting trial on terror-related charges.

In October, Gülten Kışanak and Fırat Anlı, the DBP co-mayors of Diyarbakır, the largest city in the southeast, were arrested and jailed pending trial on terrorism charges.

More than 250 terrorists killed in the last month

Over 250 PKK terrorists were killed in security operations inside and outside Turkey in November, according to army figures.

In operations carried out between Nov. 1 and Nov. 30, a total of 275 terrorists were killed, 23 captured and 19 surrendered themselves to the authorities.

Fourteen security personnel were killed and 18 civilians lost their lives in PKK attacks in the same period. More than 100 other people were injured.

During the same period, 560 PKK suspects were arrested, 367 of whom were taken into custody.