Turkish police detain two Brits over ‘terror propaganda’

ISTANBUL: Anti-terror police have detained two Britons of Iraqi origin at an airport in southwest Turkey on charges of spreading terror propaganda for outlawed Kurdish militants, media reported on Friday.

Two brothers identified as Ayman Barzan and Hariam Barzan were held on Thursday at Dalaman airport after they were interviewed by anti-terror risk analysis police over their "suspicious behaviours", the DHA private news agency reported.

Police later checked their social media accounts where they allegedly disseminated propaganda in favour of the Kurdistan Workers´ Party (PKK) and the Syrian Kurdish People´s Protection Units (YPG) militia, DHA said.

Turkey considers the YPG as the Syrian branch of the PKK -- which has waged a bloody insurgency against the state since 1984 and is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies.

The two brothers, who were detained by police, were later placed by a local court in pre-trial detention, DHA said.