Natalie McGarry: MP tweets she is 'safe' after being briefly arrested in Turkey

Glasgow East MP says she was trying to record on the sound of bombing over the border with Syria when she was detained

Natalie McGarry is the MP for Glasgow East (Getty)

A Scottish MP has tweeted that she is "absolutely fine" after she briefly being arrested by Turkish security forces.

Natalie McGarry was detained in the Sur district of Diyarbakir by Turkish Special Forces on Thursday after officials became concerned when she took her phone out at a security checkpoint.

The Glasgow East MP - who currently sits an independent MP after being suspended by the SNP - is a vocally pro-Kurdish campaigner who has critcised the Turkish governments' recent crackdown on them, political blog Guido Fawkes reports.

Her constituency office confirmed to The Independent that they had spoken to her but would not comment on the arrest until she gave them instructions.

Ms McGarry tweeted to say she was "safe and absolutely fine":

Turkish newspaper Evrensel Gazetesi reports that a delegation from a trade union were forcibly taken in police custody.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman told The Independent: "A British national was briefly detained and released in Diyarbakir, Turkey.

"Our embassy staff were in close contact with local authorities."

Ms McGarry was elected as an SNP MP for Glasgow East in May last year before resigning the whip in November following allegations that she had mishandled donations to the pro-Scottish independence campaign group, Women for Independence (WFI).

She denies the allegations.

A statement from her lawyer later confirmed she had been "questioned...but released shortly thereafter".

He said: "It appears that a member of the Turkish Security Forces became alarmed as Natalie had her mobile phone out at a security checkpoint.

"She was taken away for questioning and it was subsequently explained that she was simply recording the sounds of bombs falling across the border with Syria."