Turkey arrests some 1300 PKK-linked suspects, less than 300 ISIL-linked suspects since late July

While more than 1,300 suspects have been arrested for their alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and their affiliates since operations were launched following the deadly Suruç bombing on July 20, only 276 suspects have been arrested for their links to al-Qaeda or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), according to figures announced by Justice Minister Kenan ?pek.

?pek, speaking to reporters on Oct. 20, provided a picture of Turkey's ongoing operations against mainly the PKK, ISIL and the outlawed Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), which have intensified since the July 20 suicide bomb attack in border town of Suruç in southeastern ?anl?urfa province which killed 34 people. 

"With effective work having been carried out since July 22 after the Suruç massacre up to today, 1,308 people who are members of the PKK, the KCK [the Kurdish Communities Union, the PKK's umbrella group], the YGH [the Patriotic Youth Movement] and the YDG-H [the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement, the youth wing of the PKK] have been arrested," ?pek said.

"From members of Daesh [ISIL] and al-Qaeda, 276 of them, and 89 members of the DHKP-C and other leftist organizations, have been arrested. In total, 1,673 arrests were made," the minister said.

"As of today, 271 Daesh members have been imprisoned, with 264 of them under arrest and seven of them convicted," he said. Among them, 212 suspects were arrested after July 22, he added.

He noted some 1,463 people were released on probation after July 22, without elaborating.

After months of wavering Turkey agreed on July 23 following the Suruç suicide bombing which was blamed ISIL - an arch-foe of the PKK and its U.S.-backed Syrian affiliate -...