Turkey probing HDP lawmaker over terrorist allegations

Turkish prosecutors on Sunday filed an investigation into a lawmaker from the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) for being a member of an armed terrorist group.

Prosecutors in the capital Ankara said in a statement that in a Feb. 20 television appearance, Dirayet Dilan Tasdemir said that she traveled to Gara, a region of northern Iraq where PKK members are present and Turkey recently carried out an anti-terror operation.

The statement said that in light of her remarks, an investigation was launched over allegations that she is a member of an armed terrorist group.

Last Sunday, the bodies of 13 Turkish citizens were found during an anti-terror operation in Gara, northern Iraq, killed by the terrorist PKK.

The four-day Operation Claw-Eagle 2 in Gara was launched to block the PKK and other terror groups from re-establishing positions used to carry out cross-border terror attacks on Turkey.

Operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle were launched last June to ensure the safety of Turkey's people and borders.

The HDP is accused by the Turkish government of having links to the YPG/PKK terror group.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is its Syrian offshoot.

*Writing by Seda Sevencan