ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish security forces on Friday detained over 170 people for alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), two days after an attack on a drone manufacturing facility in the capital Ankara.
“This morning, under the coordination of our General Director of Security… we apprehended 176 PKK-linked suspects in 31 provinces in an early-morning operation,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told journalists in Ankara.
He made the comments after visiting people in hospital with injuries from Wednesday’s attack on a Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. (TAI) facility in Ankara’s northern Kahramankazan district. Five people were killed and 22 others were injured. Eight people are still in hospital, according to the minister.
The PKK claimed responsibility for the attack.
The assault “was carried out by an independent team of the Immortal Battalion. This historic act was carried out with high determination” read a statement from the PKK’s People’s Defense Center (NPG) released on Friday.
The attack came amid a growing expectation that Turkey may restart peace talks with the PKK to bring an end to the 40-year conflict, but the PKK statement said the two are unrelated.
“This event, which was planned a long time ago and was successfully implemented, has nothing to do with the political agenda of the last month that is being discussed in Turkey,” the PKK said.
The aerospace firm designs and builds civilian and military aircraft, including drones. The PKK said that the “weapons manufactured by TUSAS [TAI] have killed thousands of our civilians in Kurdistan, including women and children.”
In response to the attack, Turkey launched strikes on alleged PKK positions in the Kurdistan Region and Syria late on Wednesday, hitting 32 targets.
Twelve civilians have been killed as of Thursday, according to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Strikes have continued on Friday morning and there are reports of more casualties.
The PKK said their forces were unharmed.
