ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkish security forces on Monday arrested over 700 people across the country for their alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), following the deaths of 13 Turkish nationals blamed on the PKK, according to the interior ministry as reported by state media. The arrests include officials from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). Raids were launched by security forces across 40 of Turkey’s 81 provinces, mostly Kurdish-majority provinces in southeast of the country, against suspected members of the PKK on Monday on the 22nd anniversary of the arrest of the group’s founder Abdullah Ocalan, reported Anadolu Agency (AA) citing a ministry statement. A total of 718 people, including provincial and district heads of the HDP, were arrested by security forces in addition to the seizure of digital material, added the ministry. The arrest of 27 PKK suspects were announced earlier in the day in Van province. These people were accused of planning to hold demonstrations, and use stones, molotov cocktails and fireworks, to mark the anniversary of the arrest of Ocalan, according to the police. The raids took place over the last two days, following the deaths of 13 Turkish nationals, who were members of security forces, held captive in the Kurdistan Region. Turkey claims that these people - abducted by the PKK since 2015 - were killed by the group, while a PKK spokesperson said on Saturday that they were killed by Turkey during its most recent operation in the Region. The PKK is an armed group fighting for greater political and cultural rights for Kurds in Turkey. Its decades-long war with the Turkish state has resulted in more than 40,000 deaths on both sides. Turkey has classified the PKK as a terrorist organization. Top Turkish officials have accused the HDP of being the political wing of the PKK, leading to the arrests of scores of their politicians - including former co-chair and parliamentarians - and members in recent years on terror charges. Almost all of the party’s mayors - elected during 2019 elections - have been removed from office and some of them arrested. The HDP denies any link to the PKK. The Turkish army launched a fresh operation on the Kurdistan Region’s Mount Gara on Wednesday, dubbed Claw Eagle-2, with the purpose of targeting suspected PKK positions there. The operation was ended on Sunday. Three Turkish soldiers, including two commanders, were killed and three others injured during the clashes, defense minister Hulusi Akar said on Sunday. He added that 48 PKK members were killed, including three senior ones, and two others were captured alive by Turkey. The PKK has denied the number of their casualties. Following the news of the deaths of 13 nationals, several Turkish officials and state media outlets renewed their accusations that the HDP has links to the PKK. The HDP, however, has issued a statement offering their condolences to the families of those killed, highlighting their work to secure the releases of hostages. “We, in the name of Peoples' Democratic Party, express our deepest regret and condolences to the families and loved ones of those 13 people who by no means were capable of protecting themselves against an armed attack and also to others who have lost their lives as a result of this cross-border operation,” read a statement from HDP’s Central Executive Board on Sunday. “The government is in no position to bring our party to account, on the contrary, the Government itself must be held accountable before the families of the captives and the public,” added the statement. The HDP also said that they have been struggling to convince the government to secure the release of hostages through dialogue. “Unfortunately, the government avoided taking on its diplomatic and humanitarian responsibilities to save the lives and ensure the freedom of its own officials who are lost in a military operation without any clear purpose or target.”
