The Ministry of Interior Affairs announced on Saturday that a total of 740 people have been detained as part of operations across Turkey against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
According to the statement, the operations aimed to prevent urban terrorist attacks by the PKK.
Minister of Interior Affairs Süleyman Soylu also stated that over 7,000 soldiers were conducting operations in rural areas.
Turkey has been carrying out counterterrorism operations against the PKK, which has been waging an armed struggle for Kurdish autonomy. The PKK cost the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in its nearly 40-year history.
The political Kurdish movement has been subject to a crackdown particularly after a failed coup attempt on July 15. Kurdish deputies, mayors and local politicians have been put in jail.
After the breakdown of a reconciliation process between the PKK and the Turkish government in 2015, police operations in southeastern Turkey resumed and resulted in the destruction of several Kurdish towns as well as the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians.