site.bta147 Detained in Operation against Kurdistan Workers' Party in 30 Districts in Turkiye

A total of 147 people were detained during an operation codenamed "GURZ-28" against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), carried out in 30 districts in Turkiye over the past 10 days, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on social media on Thursday.

Yerlikaya specified that the operation was carried out by gendarmerie teams in coordination with the prosecutors' offices of 30 districts (including Istanbul, Antalya and Diyarbakir) and the anti-terrorism department of the police.

Those detained in the operation were suspected of carrying out actions in favour of a terrorist organization, participating in the youth structure of the terrorist group, financing the illegal structure and carrying out propaganda for the terrorist organization through social networks. Illegally owned pistols and rifles, drugs, documents and digital materials were confiscated during the operation, Yerlikaya said.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party has been waging an armed struggle against the Turkish state since 1984 and is considered a terrorist organization by Ankara, the EU and the United States. Tens of thousands have died in the conflict.