Two district mayors in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır have been detained yesterday as a part of an anti-terror operation. The detainees, Mehmet Ali Aydın, mayor of the Kayapınar district and Yenişehir mayor Selim Kurbanoğlu, are from Turkey's Democratic Regions Party (DBP), the local wing of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). The detention order was given by Diyarbakır's public prosecutor, on charges of being a member of a terrorist organization and making terror propaganda. The police also searched the detainees' houses and municipal offices.

In September, an official report by the Justice Ministry revealed at full length the involvement of the DBP municipalities in various crimes. Several district municipalities were found guilty of constitutional crimes in 2015; specifically in the districts of Sur, Silvan and Lice, for denying state authority and declaring self-governance. Municipal workers in the province had also attended demonstrations in support of self-governance.

Vehicles belonging to many DBP municipalities, including those in Diyarbakır, were used to carry and bury deceased terrorist members of the PKK, the PKK's Syrian offshoot the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG).

Meanwhile, southeastern Hakkari province's Şemdinli district Mayor Seferi Yılmaz was arrested yesterday as part of an anti-terror probe carried out by Hakkari public prosecutor's office. Yılmaz had been detained three days ago on charges of being a member of a terrorist organization.