(Bloomberg) -- Turkish police detained dozens of prominent Kurdish politicians as prosecutors expanded a probe into riots six years ago.
The authorities are investigating violence that erupted during Kurdish protests over Turkey's failure to stop Islamic State attacks on the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani in 2014. At least 37 people died in the violence.
Turkey has already jailed Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, co-chairs of the Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, or HDP, for allegedly encouraging people to take to the streets. The state also charged them with having ties to the Kurdish militant group PKK, which sent fighters to battle Islamic State militants in Kobani and elsewhere in Syria.
Ankara's chief prosecutor said 7 suspects are lawmakers of the HDP party and therefore a summary of the allegations will be sent to the parliament for their immunity to be lifted.
READ: Kurds Fight Islamists in Turkey as Kobani Stirs Old Vendetta
The sweep comes amid intensified clashes between Turkish forces and PKK militants in the southeast after a series of Turkish air strikes and incursions into Iraq against the group's hideouts. Among those detained on Friday were Ayhan Bilgen, the mayor of eastern province of Kars, and former HDP lawmakers Ayla Akat Ata, Sirri Sureyya Onder and Nazmi Gur.
READ: Turkey Launches Cross-Border Attack on Kurdish Militants in Iraq
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