Turkey MPs held in probe after failing to answer summons

ANKARA 

Figen Yuksekdag and Selahattin Demirtas, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chairs, were detained as part of an ongoing counter-terrorism investigation, Turkish security sources said early Friday.

Yuksekdag was taken into custody at her residence in Ankara, for failing to appear in response to a summons asking for her testimony in the probe conducted by Diyarbakir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.

As part of the investigation, Demirtas was detained at his Diyarbakir residence on the same grounds.

The two politicians vowed in June they would not cooperate with officials on the probe and would refuse to testify.

Yuksekdag and Demirtas face prosecution under anti-terrorism laws after their parliamentary immunity was lifted earlier this year, along with other lawmakers from Turkey’s main political parties.

The two detentions are part of a broader operation against HDP lawmakers by prosecutors in Diyarbakir, Hakkari, Van, Sirnak and Bingol provinces, located in the southeastern and eastern regions, security sources tell Anadolu Agency.

They were the only parliamentary group who refused to testify in investigations against them after their immunity was lifted.