Turkish police have released Sinn Féin Assembly member Mr Alex Maskey and four other people who were briefly detained on their arrival in the country yesterday.
Mr Maskey said the group was on a fact-finding visit to meet the families and supporters of Turkish hunger strikers.
The five from the North arrived on a flight from Brussels yesterday afternoon. Mr Maskey said they were nearing the homes of the families when detained.
"The police have blockades on a number of the homes and the arrests could be a way of putting people off going into that particular area".
Mr Maskey is due to return to Belfast on Wednesday. He declined to name his travelling companions but said he was the only Sinn Féin member in the group.
Earlier this year, republicans in Belfast formed the Turkish Hunger Strikers' Action Committee to highlight the hunger strikes of left-wing inmates protesting at the building of smaller prison cells.
In July, members of the Turkish Hunger Strikers' Action Committee picketed outside the European Commission offices in Belfast in memory of 29 Turkish hunger strikers who had died and against Turkey's campaign to join the EU.