Turkish police arrested 568 people in 28 out of 81 provinces, including Ankara, Istanbul, Gaziantep, Izmir, Adana, Antalya, Diyarbakir during operation, conducted on December 12-13, according to the Turkey’s interior ministry.
The ministry issued a statement Tuesday saying that two days of operations looking into who could be behind a weekend attack spanned 28 cities. The arrests come in the wake of twin bombings Saturday night near a soccer stadium in Istanbul that killed 44 people, mostly police, and wounded scores of others. The PKK is recognized as a terrorist organization by Turkey, EU, and the U.S. HDP politicians have long been accused of openly voicing their support for the PKK terror group as well as glorifying suicide bombers, inciting violence, hatred and providing assistance to terrorists.A ceasefire between Turkey and Kurdish militants collapsed in July 2015, prompting the Turkish authorities to launch a military operation in the Kurdish-dominated southeastern regions.
Demirtaş, who was among the 12 HDP deputies arrested on Nov. 4 for refusing to bear testimony before prosecutors in ongoing terror probes, condemned Saturday’s attack in a message from prison, defining the attack as a “brutal massacre” and offering condolences to the families of the victims. HDP also condemned the attack in a statement.
