Gazi, a neighborhood on Istanbul's European side, is safer now after major operations by counterterror police against terrorist organizations were carried out.
The working-class neighborhood, populated by impoverished migrants from other cities, has long been synonymous with riots and terror attacks, and a number of terrorist organizations recruit disillusioned youth in Gazi.
Counterterror units of the Istanbul branch of the Turkish National Police had stepped up operations against the terrorist organizations this year, especially after a string of violent riots in which supporters of terrorist organizations armed with shotguns and Molotov cocktails set up barricades on the streets and clashed with police.
The PKK - which renewed its attacks especially in southeastern Turkey after a lull in its activities following decades of a bloody campaign targeting civilians and security forces - is among the terrorist organizations penetrating the youth in the neighborhood. The terrorist organization Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), which was behind attacks targeting the U.S. embassy, police and government buildings, also recruited members from Gazi, along with other smaller terrorist organizations.
In this year's operations, 24 people were arrested out of the 105 people rounded up in operations and frequent police patrols in the neighborhood helped lead to a drop in terrorist organizations' presence. Police also confiscated dozens of guns, ammunition and hundreds of Molotov cocktails.
The police's success is attributed to an improvement in relations between neighborhood residents and police. The Gazi neighborhood was the scene of violent riots in 1995 triggered after a string of attacks on Alevi residents. Dozens of people were killed in riots after a brutal crackdown by police. Since then, the neighborhood has become a hub for terrorist organizations exploiting locals' distrust of authorities to recruit members.
Turkish police also launched a set of operations this year in the neighborhood against drug and cigarette smuggling, two major sources of income for terrorist organizations.
Social media accounts linked to terrorist organizations show concerns among terrorists who complain about the heavy police presence in the neighborhood, forcing them to go into hiding.
