Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced the launch of large-scale security operations against Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) cells in 18 Turkish provinces, with the participation of 13,440 security personnel.
Yerlikaya said in his tweet that the simultaneous security operations were launched in the early hours of this morning and involved forces from the Intelligence Service, the General Directorate of Security and the Public Prosecution, and included 18 states in the southwest and east of the country, including Istanbul.
He explained that today's operations come after 10 months of follow-up and investigations, during which Turkish intelligence monitored suspects of activity for the benefit of the terrorist organization in northern Iraq and Syria, as well as inside Turkey.
He pointed out that security operations are taking place simultaneously in the states of Sanliurfa, Istanbul, Antalya, Adana, Bursa, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Mardin, Mersin, Denizli, Konya, Kayseri, Batman, Isparta, Balikasir, Sirnak, Kocaeli, and Amasya.
He pointed out that security operations have so far resulted in the arrest of 90 suspects as a preliminary toll.
The security operations launched today come less than 48 hours after the suicide attack on the Ministry of Interior in Ankara, which was claimed by the Kurdistan Workers' Party.
Source: National Iraqi News Agency
