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Turkey's Syria Operation Sees Crackdown on Kurdish Party

Dorian Jones

   ISTANBUL - A wave of arrests against Turkey's main pro-Kurdish party is
   accompanying the country's military operation into Syria against the
   YPG Kurdish militia, which has been a U.S. ally in the fight against
   Islamic State terrorists. Analysts warn that the crackdown is
   broadening to include Turkey's wider civic society.

   Seven elected mayors from the opposition HDP were removed from office
   and arrested on terrorism charges earlier in October. The arrests
   coincided with Operation Peace Spring, which Turkey launched three
   weeks ago in northeastern Syria against the YPG. Ankara designates the
   YPG as a terrorist organization linked to the group PKK, which has been
   waging a decades-long insurgency inside southeastern Turkey.

   Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended the arrests, accusing
   the HDP of being the political wing of the PKK, a charge the party
   denies.

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