Turkiye arrests 282 amid bid to reconcile with PKK

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urkish people gather to protest the government's efforts to end the 40-year conflict with the PKK, in Istanbul, Turkiye, February 16, 2025 (Reuters)

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Tuesday that 282 people were detained, including journalists, opposition politicians and academics, within a broad nationwide sweep of people Turkiye accuses of “terror”.

Meanwhile, Ankara is seeking to revive peace talks with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – designated as a terror group by Turkiye and its Western allies – that have been frozen for a decade, a process that began in October when a nationalist political party reached out to jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan.

The raids began five days ago in 51 cities including Istanbul, Ankara and the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir in the southeast, Yerlikaya said on X.

On Feb 18, Turkish authorities issued arrest warrants for 60 people, including members of the main pro-Kurdish DEM party, several left-wing figures and journalists. All were detained over alleged terror ties, the Istanbul prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

“It is unacceptable that they were detained during raids on their homes rather than being summoned to the police station” for questioning, the Turkish Journalists Union said in reaction, adding that three journalists were among the detained.