Turkey Launches New Operation Against Kurds in South
ANKARA (Dispatches) – Turkey’s Interior Ministry said on Monday that a new operation was launched aimed at combating Kurdish separatist movements in the country’s southern regions, media reported.
According to state news agency Anadolu, the ministry said that over 1,600 personnel from the gendarmerie, police, and village guards were mobilized in 96 teams as part of Operation Eren-8 Amanoslar.
The operations will span the provinces of Osmaniye, Hatay and Gaziantep, all bordering Syria’s northwest.
This is in addition to the seven other anti-terrorist operations underway in the country’s heavily Kurdish eastern provinces.
Ankara has been at war with Kurdish groups, especially the leftist Kurdish Workers’ Party, for over 40 years accusing them of terrorist campaigns that have cost tens of thousands of lives.
In another development, Turkish prosecutors on Monday issued detention warrants for 54 soldiers over their alleged links to a network believed to be behind a coup attempt in 2016, local media reported.
Acting upon the order of the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Balikesir, police launched large scale simultaneous operations in 38 provinces, the state-run Anadolu agency said.
Those targeted in the operations were reportedly soldiers on active duty and expelled and retired military personnel.
The suspects have alleged connections with the network headed by the U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, Anadolu added, saying that 39 of them have been detained.
The Turkish government blames Gulen and his network for masterminding the coup bid in July 2016, in which 250 people were killed, and has been pushing for his extradition.
According to state news agency Anadolu, the ministry said that over 1,600 personnel from the gendarmerie, police, and village guards were mobilized in 96 teams as part of Operation Eren-8 Amanoslar.
The operations will span the provinces of Osmaniye, Hatay and Gaziantep, all bordering Syria’s northwest.
This is in addition to the seven other anti-terrorist operations underway in the country’s heavily Kurdish eastern provinces.
Ankara has been at war with Kurdish groups, especially the leftist Kurdish Workers’ Party, for over 40 years accusing them of terrorist campaigns that have cost tens of thousands of lives.
In another development, Turkish prosecutors on Monday issued detention warrants for 54 soldiers over their alleged links to a network believed to be behind a coup attempt in 2016, local media reported.
Acting upon the order of the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Balikesir, police launched large scale simultaneous operations in 38 provinces, the state-run Anadolu agency said.
Those targeted in the operations were reportedly soldiers on active duty and expelled and retired military personnel.
The suspects have alleged connections with the network headed by the U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, Anadolu added, saying that 39 of them have been detained.
The Turkish government blames Gulen and his network for masterminding the coup bid in July 2016, in which 250 people were killed, and has been pushing for his extradition.