February 14, 2012 - 13:43 AMT
Over 100 people arrested in Turkey in anti-PKK raids

Security forces have rounded up 109 people Feb 13 in raids conducted across Turkey, including the headquarters of several labor unions in Ankara, as part of the ongoing probe into the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), Hurriyet Daily News reported.

Law enforcement officials searched the headquarters of the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK), the All Municipal and Local Administration Workers Union (Tüm Bel Sen) and the Health Employees Union (SES), as well as the homes of some union members, taking 15 people into custody in Ankara. The raid of KESK’s headquarters has to do with a meeting held by certain female members of the union in 2009, said İsmail Hakkı Tombul, the union’s general secretary, while speaking to the private channel CNN Türk.

The raids came only days before the 13th anniversary of the capture of Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), by Turkish security forces Feb 15.