Lawmakers from the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) were detained early Friday for failing to answer a counter-terrorism investigation summons, the Interior Ministry said.
Party co-leaders Figen Yuksekdag and Selahattin Demirtas and parliamentary group leader Idris Baluken were among 12 deputies seized by police after prosecutors in Turkey’s east and southeast approved the arrests, the ministry said in a statement.
The detentions were carried out across Diyarbakir, Hakkari, Van, Sirnak and Bingol provinces.
Yuksekdag and Demirtas, who vowed in June not to testify, as well as lawmaker Sirri Sureyya Onder were referred to a court in Diyarbakir for a judge to assess the prosecution case, a security official said on condition of anonymity.
Baluken was taken to court in Bingol. He was remanded into custody.
HDP's Diyarbakir lawmaker Nursel Aydogan and Sirnak lawmaker Leyla Birlik, who were taken to court in Sirnak, were also remanded into custody.
A further HDP lawmaker, Imam Tascier, was released under judicial control on Friday afternoon.
Prosecutors have demanded all suspects be remanded in custody pending trial, the official added.
At a press conference following a parliamentary group meeting in Ankara, HDP spokesman Ayhan Bilgen criticized the arrests, saying they were "not legal" but "political".
The lawmakers face prosecution under anti-terrorism laws after their parliamentary immunity was lifted earlier this year.
Lawmakers from other parties also face a range of investigations but only HDP deputies have refused to testify before prosecutors.