Police detain 'wanted PKK militant' at Istanbul airport

Police detained a woman accused of being a wanted outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militant at Istanbul's main airport on Nov. 27, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.
Sara Aktaş was detained at Atatürk International Airport while seeking to travel to Germany, the agency said.

It added Aktaş is accused of being a key figure in the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), which the authorities regard as an umbrella group that includes the PKK. She faces up to 15 years in jail on charges of membership of an armed "terror" group.

However, deputies from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) said that rather than being a member of the KCK, Aktaş was part of the Free Women's Congress (KJA).

HDP deputy Dilan Dirayet Taşdemir said on Twitter that she was not trying to escape Turkey but had been returning from the eastern province of Iğdır with her nephew.

Another HDP deputy, Besime Konca, also denied reports that Aktaş had been travelling on a fake passport under a false name, saying she had simply been returning from Iğdır to Istanbul.

A number of activists, journalists and politicians accused of links to the PKK have been arrested in the wake of the July 15 failed coup attempt.