Eight opposition HDP lawmakers arrested, including co-chairs

Eight lawmakers from Turkey's opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), including its co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, were arrested on Nov. 4 in a probe that was launched against 14 of the party's lawmakers over alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The arrests of Demirtaş and Yüksekdağ along with Mardin deputy Gülser Yıldırım and Hakkari deputy Selma Irmak came couple of hours after two Diyarbakır deputies, İdris Baluken and Nursel Aydoğan, as well as Şırnak deputy Leyla Birlik were arrested by local courts. Şırnak lawmaker Ferhat Encü was also later arrested.

In raids that came early on Nov. 4, police teams detained 12 members of the party. 

Faysal Sarıyıldız and Tuğba Hezer Öztürk, who were also sought for detention, escaped captures because they were abroad.

During the day-long legal proceedings, HDP deputies Ziya Pir, İmam Taşçıer and Sırrı Süreyya Önder were released on probation that included an overseas travel ban, with the former two being freed by prosecutors and the latter by a court. There are three deputies who are still under detention amid continuing proceedings.   
The lawmakers' detentions came upon the orders of the chief public prosecutors' offices in Diyarbakır, Şırnak, Hakkari, Van and Bingöl, which took the action after the lawmakers did not show up to give testimony to officials over their summary of proceedings on charges of terror for alleged links to PKK. 

The proceedings had come after probes were launched against a number of party deputies for their alleged actions carried out during the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır between Dec. 26 and 27, 2015, and the Oct. 6-8, 2014, Kobane events, as well as their...