Turkey: 110 detained over suspected Kurdish militant links

Police in Turkey carried out raids on homes in 21 provinces on Tuesday, detaining some 110 people for alleged links to Kurdish militants, the country’s state-run news agency reported.
The raids, which come weeks ahead of Turkey’s May 14 parliamentary and presidential elections, targeted politicians, journalists, lawyers and human rights activists, Tayip Temel, a deputy leader of the country’s pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, or HDP, wrote on Twitter.
“On the eve of the election, the government has resorted once again to detentions out of fear of losing power,” Temel tweeted.
The detained are suspected of financing the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, of recruiting members or of engaging in propaganda on behalf of the group, Anadolu Agency reported. The group, which has led a decades-long insurgency in Turkey, is considered a terror organization by the United States and the European Union.