Three Syriacs Detained for 'Aiding PKK' upon Tip by Anonymous Witness

Priest Sefer (Aho) Bileçen (Photo: Mezopotamya Agency)

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Three Syriacs were detained yesterday (January 9) in Nusaybin district in Mardin, a southeastern province populated by Kurds, Arabs and Syriacs.

Mor Yakup Church priest Sefer (Aho) Bileçen, Üçköy village head Jozef Yar and a Syriac citizen named Musa from the same village were taken to Mardin Provincial Gendarmerie Command Anti-Terror Branch.

While there has not been an official statement on the reason for the detentions, Mor Gabriel Monastery Foundation Chair Kuryakos Ergün told bianet that they were detained upon a tip by an anonymous witness, who alleged that the three people "gave food to a Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) member."

"We are afraid, worried. We didn't expect this, we are confused," Ergün said, adding that the detained people gave statements at the gendarmerie command. (EMK/VK)