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Turkey arrests dozens over suspected links to PKK

October 3, 2023

Dozens of people with alleged links to Kurdish militants have been arrested in raids across Turkey.

https://p.dw.com/p/4X4Gf
File picture of a Turkish police special operations member
The PKK has been involved in an insurgency since 1984 that has claimed tens of thousands of lives in TurkeyImage: Eren Bozkurt/AA/picture alliance

Police in Turkey have detained at least 67 people over suspected links to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militant group in operations across the country.

Tuesday's sweep, carried out in 16 Turkish provinces, comes after the PKK claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attackin the capital Ankara on Sunday.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, that 55 people suspected of being part of the "intelligence structure" of the PKK had been detained.

At least 12 more suspected PKK members were rounded up in a separate operation in five provinces, Yerlikaya added.

On Sunday, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device near an entrance to the Interior Ministry hours ahead of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's address to the Parliament after its summer recess.

A second would-be bomber was killed in a police shootout.

Germany has had a ban on the PKK's activities since 1993 and the group has been on the EU list of terrorist organizations since 2002.

The US has designated the PKK as a foreign terrorist organization since 1997.

dvv/kb (AP, Reuters)

Kurdish PKK claims Turkish interior ministry suicide blast