by Mahmoud Abu Ghosh
Turkish police detained at least 32 people Friday in a nationwide crackdown against suspected supporters of the Kurdish resistance currently fighting for autonomy in Turkish-occupied northern Kurdistan.
The operation is part of an investigation into alleged ties between Kurdish community activists and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The crackdown targeted the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) with simultaneous raids on the homes and offices of party members, including the Ankara office of Kurdish lawmaker Leyla Zana.
Zana, who spent 10 years in prison after being convicted in 1994 of having ties to the PKK, recently caused an uproar for saying that weapons are “the insurance of the Kurds” in defiance of Turkey’s calls on the rebel group to lay down arms.
Since 2009, hundreds of people, including lawmakers, mayors and journalists, have been arrested for suspected links to the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), which Turkish authorities believe is the political wing of the PKK.
The PKK first took up arms to liberate northern Kurdistan from Turkish rule in 1984. The fighting has since killed more than 45,000 people, mostly Kurds.
Turkey, the United States and the European Union officially list the PKK a terrorist organization.
