Turkey arrests close to 90 in anti-PKK operations after Ankara attack

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey arrested close to 90 suspected Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) members in operations launched in 18 provinces, state media reported on Tuesday, two days after the group claimed responsibility for an attack on the general security directorate in capital Ankara.

Turkish state media reported that Ankara has been monitoring PKK’s military intelligence structure in the Kurdistan Region, northern Syria, and within Turkey for 10 months before launching the coordinated operations that led to the arrest of close to 90 suspected members of the group.

The operations were carried out by the Turkish intelligence, security units, and gendarmerie, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Yerlikaya said that 13,440 members of the Turkish forces participated in 466 operations across 18 provinces. 

The operations came two days after two police officers were lightly wounded in an attack on Ankara’s general security directorate. One of the attackers blew himself up while the other was “neutralized,” according to the Turkish interior minister. 

The PKK claimed responsibility for the attack near the Turkish parliament and ministerial buildings in Ankara. The main boulevard near the entrance of the parliament building was closed to traffic due to the explosion.

“This action is an act of legitimate defense against the disregard of human rights that are being trampled on, against national and international laws; against the inhumane practice and policy of isolation that is being implemented in all the jails of Turkey and Kurdistan,” read a statement from the People’s Defense Forces (HPG), the military arm of the PKK.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan labeled the attack as “the last struggle of terrorism.”

The PKK is an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey and designated a terrorist organization by Ankara.

On Monday, Turkey launched retaliatory strikes on 20 alleged PKK positions inside the borders of the Kurdistan Region. Turkey’s defense ministry said in a statement that they have carried out airstrikes in the Metina, Khakurk, Gara, and Qandil regions of the Kurdistan Region, claiming to have destroyed shelters, depots, and caves belonging to the group.