Turkish authorities took into custody a total of 67 individuals throughout the country on Tuesday as part of a crackdown on individuals suspected of having ties to Kurdish militants. This action comes in the aftermath of a suicide bombing in the Turkish capital.
Police, under the direction of Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, executed raids in 16 Turkish provinces, detaining 55 individuals believed to be part of the “intelligence structure” of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Simultaneously, a separate operation in five provinces resulted in the apprehension of at least 12 other suspected PKK members, as detailed in Yerlikaya’s post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has been at the forefront of a prolonged insurgency within Turkey and is recognized as a terrorist organisation by both the United States and the European Union. The conflict, which commenced in 1984, has resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of lives.
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On Sunday, a suicide bomber set off an explosive device near an entrance to the Interior Ministry, shortly before President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was due to deliver a speech to Parliament following its summer break. In a separate encounter, police engaged and fatally shot a second individual who had planned another bombing.
In the course of the attack, two police officers sustained minor injuries. Authorities reported that the suspects had arrived at the scene in a vehicle they forcibly acquired from a veterinarian in the central Turkish city of Kayseri, whom they had shot in the head.
A news website affiliated with the group reported that the PKK took responsibility for the attack, while Turkish authorities identified one of the attackers as a PKK militant.
In a subsequent response, Turkey’s Air Force carried out airstrikes on suspected PKK positions in northern Iraq, where the group’s leadership is based. The Defense Ministry stated that a considerable number of PKK militants were “neutralised” in the airstrikes.
There was no clarification from Yerlikaya regarding whether the individuals arrested on Tuesday were suspected of direct engagement in Sunday’s attack.