JINHA

WAN - A Turkish court has detained the co-mayor of the largely Kurdish district of Edremit on charges of "disrupting the existence and oneness of the nation."

Sevil Rojbin Çetin is the elected co-mayor of the Edremit district of Van, in Northern Kurdistan (in Turkey). Police arrested Rojbin in the late hours of Sunday night. The following day, Van residents held a mass march to the police station to protest her arrest. Municipal employees, activists and NGO workers were among those chanting "repression can't stop us" at the march, where police presence was high.

Police transferred Rojbin to court yesterday. There, a judge ruled to have her detained for "disrupting the existence and oneness of the nation."

(ng/ht/fc/cm)