ISTANBUL (UPI)–Turkish police detained more than 40 people in four provinces early Friday over alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), authorities said.
As police extended their search in Istanbul and other areas for the PKK suspects, a provincial chairman of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) was arrested after condemning the investigation, the Turkish Hurriyet Daily News reported.
The Turkish Dogan News Agency said 21 people were held in operations carried out in the western province of Izmir, accused of arson, as well as several bomb attacks.
Police also searched DTP quarters in the central district of Beyoglu, Istanbul and in the southeastern province of Batman, where 15 people were detained.
The PKK, which advocates for the social, political and human rights of Turkey’s oppressed Kuridsh minority, is listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, including the United States and the European Union.