Turkey: Opposition member charged over attacking police

By Cemal Asan

VAN, Turkey (AA) - A member of a Turkish opposition party on Thursday was charged over her attacking a police officer, judicial source said.

Saliha Aydeniz, member of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), bit the arm of a police officer during an unauthorized demonstration on Wednesday for Leyla Guven, an HDP lawmaker, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.

Aydeniz was charged with resisting the police and intentional injury.

Guven stands accused of terror activities following her statements on Turkey’s Operation Olive Branch against the PKK/YPG and Daesh terror groups in northwestern Syria.

Turkish authorities have accused the HDP of being a front group for the terrorist PKK.

Since 2016, Turkey’s Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations in northwestern Syria have liberated the region from YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists, including Al-Bab, Afrin and Azaz, making it possible for Syrians who fled the violence there to return home.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women and children. The YPG/PYD is the group's Syrian branch.