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DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Aug 1 (AFP) - 22h39 - The
mayor of a town in southeastern Turkey was released
Monday after being held five days by rebels from the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Hasim Akyurek, the mayor of the district of
Yayladere in Bingol province, told AFP that he was
released at 8:30 pm (1730 GMT) near the small hamlet
of Saritosun in his own constituency.
Speaking to AFP in a telephone call, Akyurek said he
was in good condition and had arrived at his family
home. He refused to give other details.
Akyurek, an ethnic Kurd who belongs to the ruling
Justice and Development Party (AKP), was seized on
July 27 by PKK rebels as he was travelling in a
mountainous area in his constituency.
The PKK said in a written statement at the weekend
that it had abducted the mayor after complaints from
locals about Akyurek "working in cooperation with
the Turkish security forces, exercising threats and
pressure harmful to the people".
The rebels said they would release the mayor if "he
is found innocent by an inquiry that will be carried
out into the allegations against him".
The PKK has increased attacks on the Turkish army in
the country's southeast since ending a five-year
unilateral ceasefire in June 2004 on grounds that
Ankara's reforms to expand Kurdish freedoms were
inadequate.
Earlier this month, the group, blacklisted by the
United States and the European Union as a terrorist
group^, abducted a Turkish soldier and was also
blamed for a bomb attack that killed five people in
a popular seaside resort.
The Kurdish conflict in Turkey has claimed about
37,000 lives since 1984, when the PKK took up arms
against Ankara to fight for Kurdish self-rule.
AFP
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