Three ex-mayors arrested over terror links in SE Turkey

Turkish security forces arrested three ex-mayors in the southeastern Diyarbakir province on Monday as part of an ongoing terrorism investigation.

Former metropolitan mayor Adnan Selcuk Mizrakli, Kayapinar district mayor Kezban Yilmaz and Bismil district mayor Orhan Ayaz, all from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), are accused of being member of a terrorist group and carrying out terror propaganda.

In mid-August, mayors in Diyarbakir, Mardin and Van provinces were suspended over alleged terror links; they were all from the HDP, which Turkey's government accuses of having links to the PKK terror group.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and the European Union -- has been responsible for deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.