Turkey arrested more than 170 people for alleged PKK links

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkish security forces detained more than 170 people on Friday for alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), two days after an attack on a drone production facility in the capital Ankara.

Minister of Internal Affairs Ali Yerlikaya, in his statement to journalists in Ankara, said, “This morning, we caught 176 PKK-related suspects in 31 provinces with the operation carried out in the early hours of the morning under the coordination of our General Director of Security.”

Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. in Ankara’s northern Kahramankazan district. He made the comments after visiting people in hospital with injuries sustained from the attack on the (TAI) facility. Five people died and 22 people were injured. According to the minister’s statement, eight people are still in hospital.

PKK claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attack was “carried out by an independent team of the Immortal Battalion. “This historic action was carried out with high determination,” the PKK People’s Defense Center (NPG) said in a statement on Friday.

The attack came as expectations grew that Turkey might restart peace talks with the PKK to end the 40-year conflict, but the PKK statement said the two were unrelated.

PKK said, “This incident, planned a long time ago and successfully implemented, has nothing to do with the political agenda discussed in Turkey in the last month.”

The aerospace firm designs and manufactures civil and military aircraft, including drones. PKK said, “Thousands of our civilians, including women and children, were killed in Kurdistan with the weapons produced by TAI.”

In response to the attack, Türkiye launched an attack on alleged PKK positions in the Kurdistan Region and Syria late Wednesday, hitting 32 targets.

According to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), 12 civilians were killed as of Thursday. Strikes continued on Friday morning and there are reports of more casualties.

He said PKK forces were not harmed.