Turkey detains 110 individuals over PKK links
TRT stated that police were holding persons accused of funding the illegal Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) or recruiting new members for the organization.
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Turkish police special forces and ambulances at the site of an armed attack on a nightclub, January 1, 2017, in Istanbul. (AFP)
According to Turkish police sources, Turkey detained 110 people on Tuesday for alleged terror ties, barely three weeks before a vote that might prolong President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's two-decade rule.
The massive raids, called a "counter-terror" operation by authorities, took place in 21 provinces, including the Kurdish majority Diyarbakir in the southeast.
Days ago, a French court sentenced 11 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) members on terror funding charges, with penalties ranging from suspended three-year jail terms to five years in prison with one year suspended.
TRT stated that police were holding persons accused of funding the illegal Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) or recruiting new members for the organization.
The PKK, designated a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, and Turkey, has been fighting Ankara for more autonomy for the Kurdish minority for decades.
According to TRT, the operation also included individuals who sent money to the PKK from towns controlled by Turkey's largest pro-Kurdish party, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).
According to the Diyarbakir Bar Association, the number of detainees might reach as high as 150, with 20 attorneys, five journalists, three actors, and one politician among them.
The HDP, the second-largest opposition party in parliament, is largely seen as a kingmaker in the close race.
Erdogan has frequently accused the HDP of having connections to the PKK, which the party rejects.
The HDP said last month that it will not nominate a presidential candidate in the May 14 elections, implicitly supporting Erdogan's secular competitor, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
Turkey, the United States, and the European Union have called the PKK a terrorist organization and Ankara is frequently in conflict with Turkish soldiers in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast, which is linked to northern Iraq.
As a result, the Turkish military has occupied territories in northern Iraq, where it frequently conducts strikes against alleged PKK bases in violation of Iraqi sovereignty.
