© Reuters
Kurdish demonstrators shout slogans and hold flags with portraits of jailed PKK leader Ocalan during a protest in Brussels early January 2012
Kurdish demonstrators shout slogans and hold flags with portraits of jailed PKK leader Ocalan during a protest in Brussels early January 2012
In early morning raids across Turkey, police arrested more than 100 people as part of an ongoing anti-terror probe against the Kurdish rebel group, the PKK. Kurdish political activists were among those detained, as were trade unionists and a Kurdish film maker.
The headquarters of three of the countries main civil service trade unions were also searched.
The crackdown was strongly criticized by pro-Kurdish member of parliament, Ertugral Kurkcu, of the BDP party. He says the arrests have nothing to do with fighting terrorism, but are instead aimed at stifling democratic opposition to the government.
"There are no weapons on the table, there are no incidents of violence which those people are involved in. So this is an arbitrary raid against the Kurdish popular movement," Kurkcu said.
