Turkey detains dozens over PKK links
215 more police officers arrested in coup probe
DIYARBAKIR, Oct 12, (Agencies): Turkish police have detained dozens of people including proKurdish party officials, accusing them of spreading propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a security source said on Wednesday.
At least 49 people were detained for allegedly spreading “terror propaganda” and “membership of a terror group”, as part of an operation against the PKK in Van and Hakkari in eastern and southeastern Turkey, the official told AFP.
Among the detainees were several officials from local branches of the pro-Kurdish, left-wing Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).
The Turkish government says the party has links to the PKK — a claim the HDP denies.
The PKK is listed as a terror group by Ankara, the European Union and the United States.
The PKK, which has waged a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, has resumed attacks on security forces since the rupture of a fragile ceasefire last year.
Two members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) were killed this week in two attacks that
were blamed on PKK militants.
It was not immediately clear if the latest arrests were linked to a police hunt for the perpetrators of the attacks in Van and in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir.
Turkish authorities on Wednesday issued arrest warrants for 215 police officers, including 147 police chiefs, broadcaster NTV reported, in an operation linked to July’s attempted coup.
Thirty from the group have been arrested so far, NTV said.
Turkey has seen two mass arrests in the police force since Oct 7, that the government says aims to root out supporters of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara blames for masterminding the abortive coup.
Gulen denies accusations he was behind the coup, during which more than 240 people were killed.