Turkey's Interior Ministry confirmed Nov. 3 that 11 lawmakers with the leftist and Kuridish-led Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) lawmakers have been detained by police in operations across the country, ostensibly as part of a terrorism investigation. Those detained include HDP co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag. The arrests come as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seizing draconian powers in the wake of July's attempted coup. Hours after the arrests, a bomb attack outside a police station in Diyarbakir left eight dead and over 100 wounded. As in previous recent terror attacks in Turkey, authorities initially blamed the leftist Kurdish guerillas of the PKK, but it was subsequently claimed by ISIS. (Kurdish Question, Kurdish Question, Anadolu Agency)
The Turkish Supreme Court immediately approved the 10-month prison sentence given by a local court to Figen Yuksekdag for participating in the funeral of a militant of the outlawed Marxist Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) in 2012. (Kurdish Question)
HDP
More terror in Istanbul
Twin attacks by a suicide bomber and a car bomber near an Istanbul football stadium killed 29 people and wounded 166. The bombs targeted police officers, who constituted most of the dead. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. (AP)
Car bomb attack kills soldiers in central Turkey
At least 13 soldiers were killed and 55 others wounded, including civilians, in a car bomb attack in central Turkey's Kayseri province Dec. 17. The attack targeted a public bus filled with off-duty soliders and others near the gate of Erciyes University. There has been no claim of responsibility yet. (Anadolu Agency)
The Istanbul stadium attack was meanwhile claimed by the Kurdish militant group TAK. A statement said the bombing was in reprisal for ongoing violence in the southeastern Turkey and the continuing imprisonment of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. (BBC News)
More terror in Istanbul
At least 39 people were killed in a New Year's Eve attack on a nightclub in Istanbul. Police are searching for a gunman who apparently opened fire on the crowd at the Reina nightclub while dressed in a Santa Claus suit. (BBC News, The Telegraph)
More terror in Turkey
Two attackers, a policeman and a court worker have been killed in a car bomb and gun assault on a courthouse in the Turkish city of Izmir. Officials blamed Kurdish militants for the attack. A third attacker is reportedly still being sought. (BBC News, Jan. 5)