Turkey Arrests 101 Lawyers, Doctors over Links with PKK

A Turkish security source said that authorities issued arrest warrants today, Friday, for 101 people, including lawyers and doctors, as part of what they described as terrorism-related investigations.

The source stated that the authorities began the operation from the Diyarbakir region in the southeast of the country.

Police searched for suspects in four cities and 106 residential addresses.

The source added that 74 suspects have been arrested so far.

The suspects are believed to be linked to the Democratic Society Party, which Anadolu, the official Turkish news agency, and the source described as the legislative arm of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Anatolia also reported that authorities found weapons, documents, and digital materials in the suspects' addresses.

However, Amnesty International's Turkey Campaigns Officer, Milena Buyum, said that the lawyers ’arrest contradicted recent talk of judicial reforms that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also mentioned.

The police carried out simultaneous raids in Diyarbakir, in the mainly Kurdish southeast, and in Istanbul, Izmir, and Adiyaman, as part of an investigation targeting the Democratic Society Conference.

The group is accused of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Turkey classifies as a terrorist organization.

The Diyarbakir Bar Association condemned the recent arrests of 17 of its members.

The pro-Kurdish opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) was also under surveillance by the Turkish authorities due to its alleged links to the PKK.

In recent months,  Kurdish mayors in southeast Turkey have been sacked and arrested for their supposed links to the PKK.

On the other hand, the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced the seizure of quantities of ammunition that was possessed by the terrorist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) organization, as part of the "Claw-Tiger" operation in northern Iraq.

The Ministry affirmed that its military operations against terrorist organizations "are continuing with firmness and determination," and will continue to pursue terrorists in northern Iraq.

Last June, the Turkish Defense Ministry announced the launch of the “Claw-Tiger” operation against the PKK terrorist organization in the “Haftanin” region in northern Iraq.