“Mace-36” operations against the PKK terrorist group in 17 provinces netted 65 suspects, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced Tuesday.
Yerlikaya said in a social media post that weeklong operations were coordinated by prosecutor’s offices, police counterterrorism units and intelligence departments and were held in Adana, Antalya, Diyarbakır, Edirne, Eskişehir, Gaziantep, Istanbul, Izmir, Kars, Kocaeli, Malatya, Manisa, Muğla, Muş, Şanlıurfa, Şırnak and Van.
“We decisively continue our struggle to achieve the goal of terror-free Türkiye where violence and instability do not exist,” Yerlikaya said in his post. He was referring to a new initiative to force PKK to lay down arms.
Suspects captured in operations are accused of terrorism propaganda on social media, being members of the youth wing of the terrorist group and funding the PKK. Along with suspects, authorities seized a large number of unlicensed guns.
Security forces regularly conduct counterterrorism operations across the country, focusing on the eastern and southeastern provinces, where the PKK has attempted to establish a stronghold in its four-decade campaign of terror. Terrorists from the PKK and its branches, such as its Syrian wing, the YPG, and Daesh, rely on a network of members and supporters in Türkiye.
