Kurdistan

Turkey launched an operation early on Feb. 22 against the PKK terrorist organization in southeastern Mardin province.

The city governorate announced that the anti-terror operation will take place in a total of 18 neighborhoods in the towns of Mazıdağı, Derik and Kızıltepe.

Security forces in Turkey arrested 114 people across the country on Feb. 15 over their alleged links to the PKK terror group.

The arrests come in the wake of the PKK execution in northern Iraq of 13 Turkish citizens held captive for six years, an incident that shocked the nation.

Turkey told Washington's envoy it took the "strongest" exception to a U.S. statement on the massacre of 13 Turkish citizens over the weekend, said the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

"Today, U.S. Ambassador David Satterfield was summoned to our ministry, and our reaction to the statement by the US was voiced in the strongest terms," said a ministry statement on Feb. 15. 

Turkish riot police. Photo: EPA-EFE/SEDAT SUNA

The Interior Ministry said on February 15 in a written statement: "718 people including the presidents of HDP district and city branches were detained as part of operations against the PKK's operations in the country. Detentions are still underway."

Turkish security forces detained a total of 718 suspects over alleged links to the terrorist group PKK, the Interior Ministry announced on Feb. 15.

According to a ministry statement, counter-terrorism units of the Security Directorate and Gendarmerie Command carried out operations across 40 of Turkey's 81 provinces to expose the activities of the terrorist PKK.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused the United States on Monday of supporting Kurdish militants who Ankara says executed 13 kidnapped Turks in northern Iraq, adding that a US statement of condemnation was a "a joke."

Turkish security forces seized ammunition, equipment and organizational documents in a counter-terrorism operation in the eastern Şırnak province, the governor's office said on Feb. 13.

Turkey's presidential spokesman urged the U.S. on Feb. 11 to end its support for the PYD/YPG terrorist group. 

"The US should end its support to the PYD/YPG. It should say 'stop' to FETÖ's activities there," said İbrahim Kalın during an interview with TRT Haber, Turkey's state-run news channel.

Turkey has extended its fight against terrorists as the new phase of a domestic counter-terrorism operation has been launched in the country's east, the Interior Ministry said on Jan. 20. 

Turkey and Iraq are planning to establish a new mechanism to provide an exchange of information for the struggle against the PKK, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Jan. 20.