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Turkey Begins Air-Supported Anti-Drug Operation in Its Southeast

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Turkish security forces have launched air-supported anti-drug operations in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir, the gendarmerie command said on Wednesday.
Sputnik

The efforts involve 87 teams of gendarmerie commandos and security guards.

"In the Lice district of Diyarbakir, air-land operations against drug fields, dubbed Martyr Gendarme Specialized Sergeant Mehmet Celik narco-terror operation, have been started across 115 different points. In the operations, 2.5 million cannabis roots have been detected and 26 persons have been detained so far," the provincial gendarmerie command said.

The command added that this operation has damaged the financial sources of PKK in Diyarbakir.

The Turkish government has been fighting the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), designated terrorist by Ankara, for over 35 years. The government claims that drug production and trafficking are important sources of revenues for PKK.

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