Turkey: Almost 100 detained over links to Kurdish militants

According to the interior ministry, Turkish police detained 98 people on Monday on suspicion of having ties to the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) terrorist group. The majority of the detainees were accused of disseminating PKK propaganda on social media. The suspects were held in parallel operations throughout 18 provinces, the ministry said in a statement, with the majority of the detentions occurring in the southeast. The PKK began fighting the Turkish state in 1984, and over 40,000 people have died as a result of the conflict. The PKK is regarded as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US, and the EU. Ankara regularly conducts operations and cross-border airstrikes against the PKK, which maintains bases in the northern Iraqi mountains. It also frequently carries out operations against individuals connected to it within the country. Following the October 1 bombing of government buildings in Ankara by terrorists, Turkey has escalated its attacks in the last several weeks against Kurdish extremists in Syria and Iraq as well as against its own citizens. Separately, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on social media platform X that 63 PKK militants’ caves, storage facilities, and shelters had been demolished by the authorities across six provinces. (With agency inputs)