Türkiye Detains 98 Over Alleged Kurdish Militant Links 

New Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya stands during a press conference where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the new cabinet, in Ankara, Türkiye June 3, 2023. (Reuters)
New Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya stands during a press conference where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the new cabinet, in Ankara, Türkiye June 3, 2023. (Reuters)
TT

Türkiye Detains 98 Over Alleged Kurdish Militant Links 

New Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya stands during a press conference where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the new cabinet, in Ankara, Türkiye June 3, 2023. (Reuters)
New Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya stands during a press conference where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the new cabinet, in Ankara, Türkiye June 3, 2023. (Reuters)

Turkish police on Monday detained 98 suspects over alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, most of them on a charge of spreading PKK propaganda on social media, the interior ministry said.

In a statement, the ministry said the suspects were detained in simultaneous operations across 18 provinces, with most of the detentions being in southeastern regions.

The PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union, United States, and Türkiye, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 and more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

Ankara frequently carries out cross-border airstrikes and operations against the PKK, which has bases in the mountains of northern Iraq. It also regularly conducts operations against people linked to it domestically.

In recent weeks, Türkiye has intensified attacks on Kurdish militants in Syria and Iraq, as well as against its members in the country, after militants detonated a bomb near government buildings in Ankara on Oct. 1.

Separately, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on social messaging platform X that authorities had destroyed 63 shelters, caves, and storage units used by PKK militants in six provinces.

"The shelters that the terrorist organization prepared to be used for logistical purposes and to carry out acts in the winter months have been identified and destroyed one by one," Yerlikaya said, adding several weapons, ammunition, and equipment had been seized in the raids.



Iran Police Commander Dismissed After Death in Custody

A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
TT

Iran Police Commander Dismissed After Death in Custody

A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)

Iran's police force has dismissed the commander of a city in the northern province of Gilan after the death in custody of a detainee, state media said on Saturday.

Mohammad Mir Mousavi, 36, was arrested on July 22 after being involved in a fight in Lahijan, police said in a statement carried by the official news agency IRNA.

"The police commander... was dismissed due to insufficient oversight of the conduct and behaviour of staff," the police said, AFP reported.

"Due to the complexity of the matter, the final conclusion on the cause of Mohammad Mir Mousavi's death depends on the medical examiner's final report.

The police said the station commander and several officers involved in the incident had been suspended.

"The behaviour of some law enforcement officers was against the professional policy of the police and that is not acceptable in any way, so they were referred to the judicial authority," the statement added.

The Norway-based Kurdish human rights organization, Hengaw, on Wednesday said Mir Mousavi "was killed under torture in the detention center".

On Thursday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered an investigation into the case.

Dismissals of members of the security forces are rare in Iran.

In 2022, the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who had been arrested in Tehran for an alleged breach of the country's strict dress code for women, sparked months of deadly nationwide protests.