MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Turkey's Interior Ministry announced Monday that 508 people suspected to be "aiding and abetting" the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were detained this past week by the Turkish security forces in anti-PKK operations, and that 78 people were later arrested, local media reported.
According to the Hurriyet Daily News, security forces conducted 220 operations since December 19, resulted in the incapacitation or killing of nine PKK militants, the finding of three PKK bases, and the seizing of PKK munitions, narcotics, and smuggled contraband.
The PKK is an organization which Turkey regards as a terrorist group. Tensions between Ankara and Turkish Kurds escalated in July 2015 when a ceasefire between Turkey and the PKK collapsed over a series of terrorist attacks, allegedly committed by the Kurdish militants.
