6 PKK terror suspects held in Turkey

ISTANBUL/BINGOL, Turkey

Turkish security forces Sunday arrested six PKK terror suspects in capital Ankara and northwestern Istanbul province.

Turkish police carried out simultaneous operations at 14 places in Ankara and Istanbul on May 21 to arrest terror suspects. A former official of People’s Democratic Party (HDP) was among the suspects.

Digital materials belonging to the PKK were also seized during the operations.

Meanwhile, in a separate operation carried out in Turkey's eastern province of Bingol, provincial gendarmerie teams received a tip that the PKK terrorist organization had hidden explosives underground in the countryside of Karliova, according to a statement by the governor's office.

During the land survey conducted in the area as part of Operation Eren-4, a total of four underground warehouses buried in the soil used by PKK terrorists were identified.

A search of the warehouses uncovered different types of arms and ammunition belonging to the terrorist organization.

While the seized materials were destroyed, operations in the area will reportedly continue.

Operation Eren-4 has started in the Karliova-Varto region of the eastern Bingol and Mus provinces with 93 operation teams, including over 1,600 personnel from the gendarmerie, police, and village guards.

The first three phases of the operation launched this year – Eren-1 Tendurek, Eren-2 Lice, Eren-3 Mt. Agri – are also ongoing.

The operation was named after Eren Bulbul, a 15-year-old martyred by PKK terrorists on Aug. 11, 2017.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

*Writing by Merve Berker