Report: Journalists detained in Turkey

Police on Tuesday detained some 40 people, including several journalists, as part of a growing investigation into a group prosecutors accused of having links to Kurdish rebels, Turkey's state-run television said.             

The private Dogan news agency said Mustafa Ozer, a photographer working for the French news agency Agence France Presse and journalists for Kurdish media organizations were among the detained. Photographs obtained by The Associated Press show Ozer smiling as he is being led by a plain-clothed police officer into a van.                

Eric Baradat, editor-in-chief of Agence France Presse's photo department, confirmed that a photographer for the Paris-based agency was detained but could not provide any details, citing agency policy.           

Turkish state media said the latest arrests are part of an investigation launched two years ago. Since then, hundreds of Kurdish activists, including elected mayors, have been detained on charges of membership in the Union of Kurdistan Communities, a group prosecutors accuse of being an offshoot of the PKK rebel group and of working as its political arm.              
The activists say the group is an umbrella organization uniting all Kurds.         

The official Anadolu agency said Tuesday's raids were directed against the "press and propaganda" leg of the Union of Kurdistan Communities.              

The PKK, branded a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, has been fighting for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey since 1984. Tens of thousands of people have died in the conflict since then.               

State-run TRT television said police on Tuesday conducted simultaneous raids in Istanbul and six other Turkish cities, detaining 40 people. They would be questioned by anti-terrorism police in Istanbul, the station said.     

AP