Australian woman in Turkey arrested on terror charges

An Australian woman trying to board a flight home has been arrested in Turkey on terror charges over her alleged links to a Kurdish separatist group.

A joint Turkish police and National Intelligence Organisation investigation found Cigdem Aslan had participated in activities on behalf of the listed terror organisation Kurdistan Workers' Party in Australia, according to Turkish media reports.

It was alleged Aslan had been in contact with high-level members of the terror group and had been monitored "for a long time" before she was arrested at Istanbul Airport trying to board a flight to Australia.

The 51-year-old Melbourne woman, who held an Australian passport under the name of Lenna Aslan, was reported to have appeared before a judge, the Daily Sabah reported.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was providing consular assistance to the woman detained in Turkey, a spokesman said.

"Owing to our privacy obligations we are unable to provide further comment," he said.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party, which is committed to the creation of an independent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey, Syria and Iraq, is a banned terrorist organisation in Turkey and also Australia.

The group, which the Australian government has described as an ideologically motivated violent extremist organisation, has been locked in a decades-long conflict with Turkey, resulting in more than 40,000 people killed.

Turkish media reported Aslan served as co-chair of an Australian PKK-linked association and was involved in rallies in Australia to protest Turkey's operations against the group.

She is listed as a bilingual health educator at the Multicultural Centre for Women's Health in Melbourne.

Her biography on the centre's website states she came to Australia as a Kurdish migrant from Turkey 25 years ago, has worked as a registered nurse and is passionate about human and women rights, community volunteering and advocating for minorities.

The NSW Supreme Court in 2019 sentenced Australian man Renas Lelikan to a three-year community corrections order after he pleaded guilty to being a member of the PKK.