According to an AFP photographer, entry to the street where the office is located was blocked by riot police, who deployed armoured cars and anti-riots vehicles around the building.
Advertisement
Nedim Oruç, a reporter for Dicle News Agency, was on Tuesday reported to have gone missing after being beaten by Turkish special operation units.
The co-chair of the district branch, Rukiye Demir, was among the detainees. Party officials said no reason was given for the arrests.
Istanbul police said in a statement that the operation was part of an investigation into a June 2015 murder suspected to have been carried out by PKK members and was based on a tip-off that the murder weapon was in the HDP building.
The ruling AK Party (AKP) has put replacing the country’s coup-era constitution at the heart of its agenda after winning back its parliamentary majority in a November election.
Last month, the Turkish president said more than 3,100 PKK terrorists had been killed in Turkey and northern Iraq.
Kurds have always been campaigning for the right to self-determination and greater autonomy in Turkey, where they are the largest ethnic minority.
Ankara said Thursday that 305 PKK militants have been killed since December 14, 2015, when its security operation intensified.
In a typically tough address Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed that Turkey would press on with the “anti-terror” operations for the sake of all its citizens.
The HDP and the Kurdish movement in Turkey pride themselves of being in the forefront of promoting gender equality and usually split most senior posts between men and women. “It’s against the people”, HDP spokesperson Feleknas Uca told RT earlier this week.
Advertisement
The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) said three of its female campaigners and another as-yet-unidentified man had been shot and badly wounded in Silopi town in Sirnak province late on Monday, accusing the authorities of failing to evacuate them despite pleas.
