Nearly 20 suspects detained in PKK op in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

Security forces detained at least 19 suspects, including the deputy mayor of Istanbul’s Şişli district over their alleged links to the PKK/KCK terror group, sources have said.

As part of an investigation, earlier detention warrants were issued for a total of 25 suspects.

Out of the 25 suspects, at least 19 were detained, including Cihan Yavuz, deputy mayor of Şişli, in the anti-terror operation which was also backed by special forces teams.

The police conducted simultaneous anti-terror operations in 28 different districts in Istanbul, said the sources.

A pistol and spare magazine were seized during the operation, along with 103 bullets and digital materials related to the PKK/KCK terror group.

The 4th Heavy Penal Court in the southeastern Diyarbakır province yesterday sentenced Kemal Bülbül, a lawmaker from the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), to six years and three months in prison for “being a member of an armed terrorist group.”

The HDP is accused of having links to the YPG/PKK terror group by the Turkish government. The HDP denies any links to terrorism.

Turkey is now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in its fight against terrorism, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said yesterday.

“A total of 892 terrorists were neutralized this year in Turkey,” Soylu told legislators at the parliament’s planning and budget committee in the capital Ankara.

Soylu said the ministry had carried out 102,000 internal security operations since 2016.

Turkey neutralized 102 senior terrorists, with 10 of them on the most wanted list, he said.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S and the European Union.