Siirt

In a drought-ridden district of Antalya in the country's south, producers have harnessed their unproductive and fallow lands by cultivating Gaziantep's renowned pistachios, optimizing yields and attracting more farmers towards pistachio cultivation.

The brother of an opposition candidate was killed and four other people injured in clashes between opponents and supporters of the newly elected ruling-party mayor of a city district in a predominantly Kurdish region of southeastern Turkey.

Disputes preceding and during local elections have turned deadly as at least three individuals lost their lives and numerous others sustained injuries on March 31.

In the southeastern city of Siirt, one person was killed and four others were wounded in a clash involving firearms and stones between two groups amid voting activities.

А magnitude 5 earthquake has struck Turkey's southeastern city of Siirt, according to Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority.

The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, or AFAD, said Thursday there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the quake that hit at a depth of 20 kilometers (12 miles) at 8:45 a.m. (5:45 a.m. GMT).

Two mayors from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) who were detained last week have been arrested on terrorism charges.  

Yaşar Akkuş, the mayor of the eastern province of Iğdır, who was detained on May 15 as part of a terror probe, was arrested on May 18. 

He was suspended from his position.

Four mayors from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in southeastern and eastern Turkey have been detained over alleged terror links, according to local media reports.

Iğdır Municipality Mayor Yaşar Akkuş, Siirt Mayor Berivan Helen Işık, Baykan Mayor Ramazan Sarsılmaz and Kurtalan Mayor Bara Akgül have been detained over suspected links to terrorism.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has submitted complaints of voting irregularities in the March 31 elections for several districts in Istanbul, Ankara, Siirt, Adıyaman, Denizli, Zonguldak, Karabük, Bartın, Samsun, Erzurum and Yalova. 

At least 235 people, including local executives of the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), were detained on Dec. 12 in 11 Turkish provinces as part of a major probe launched into the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). 

In 2010, Turkey was "shaken" by the surfacing of alleged serial rapes in the southeastern city of Siirt, including "shocking" cases of adults raping minors and minors raping toddlers, killing one.

Right after the news President Tayyip Erdo?an was going to meet Parliamentary Speaker ?smet Y?lmaz to discuss an interim government to take the country to another election in six months, the news hit the wires about the killing of eight Turkish soldiers in a bomb ambush near the eastern city of Siirt by suspected militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers? Party (PKK).