Turkish police detain two lawmakers in anti-terror probe

Turkish police detained two opposition lawmakers from Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) as part of a terror probe Monday night, raising the number of detentions in 11 provinces to 372, local Hurriyet reported Tuesday.

Opposition MPs Caglar Demirel -- HDP parliament leader -- and Besime Konca were detained in relation to an ongoing counter-terrorism investigation in the southeastern provinces of Diyarbakir and Batman.

Meanwhile, in the western province of Balikesir, eight HDP members including the party's provincial head and district heads were detained early Tuesday.

The detentions came after operations were conducted against a large number of suspects, including local HDP executives and its sister party, the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), over terror links with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in 11 Turkish provinces.

The number of detentions rose to 372 and included individuals suspected of conducting propaganda on social media.

The Interior Ministry said the suspects that mostly included HDP local executives and members were detained in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Siirt, Kayseri, Manisa, Hakkari, Adana, Gaziantep, Mersin and Sanliurfa.

With 64 detained suspects, the southern province of Mersin had the highest number of HDP members rounded up in the operations.

Last month, 13 HDP lawmakers were arrested, and ten of them, including HDP co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, remain in custody awaiting trial on terrorism-related charges.

Turkish government accuses the HDP of having links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU. Endit