2024-01-15T11:37:07+00:00
A-
A
A+
/ Reuters news agency reported that Turkish police arrested 18 people on charges of “praising terrorism” after 9 Turkish soldiers were killed in attacks targeting them in Iraq last Friday.
The report, translated by Agency, pointed out that Turkish soldiers were killed during clashes with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Ankara considers a “terrorist” organization, and that Turkey carried out air strikes in Iraq and Syria in response.
The report quoted Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerli Kaya as saying that the Turkish police arrested 18 people for “praising a terrorist organization, spreading terrorist propaganda, and misleading information” about Turkish operations in Iraq.
In addition, the Turkish minister indicated that arrest warrants had been issued against 19 other people in Türkiye and abroad, without providing additional details.
This came as security sources said that Turkish intelligence killed a prominent member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Turkey, the United States and the European Union consider a “terrorist organization,” and who was accused of leading several attacks on Turkish soldiers in the past, during a security operation in northern Iraq, and that many Party members have been killed since Friday, according to what the Turkish Ministry of Defense confirmed.
While the party did not comment on this, Reuters said that schools across Turkey observed a minute of silence this morning, in mourning for the killed Turkish soldiers.