ANKARA, Turkey, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Turkish officials in the southern province of Diyarbakir arrested a member of a so-called peace group from the main Kurdish militant group because of a speech.
Authorities arrested a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, during the weekend for delivering a pro-Kurdish speech in the region, Turkey's English-language Hurriyet newspaper reports. The PKK member was part of a so-called peace group of militants who surrendered to Turkish authorities as part of a broad-based reconciliation effort.
Aysel Tugluk, the former deputy of a banned Kurdish political party, was accused recently of speaking in support of the PKK, a designated terrorist group, during a holiday speech in 2007.
Ankara offered a series of cultural and legal concessions to the Kurdish minority community in an effort to find a political solution to years of conflict with the group. That effort was complicated by a recent court decision to ban a pro-Kurdish political party from Parliament.
The party ban sparked riots in the Kurdish south of Turkey. Meanwhile, a court in December summoned the top leaders of the banned Democratic Society Party, or DTP, including party leader Ahmet Turk, because of allegations they were acting in support of the PKK.
