By Xinhua
Diyarbakir, Turkey : Four people were arrested by Turkish security forces on Turkish-Syrian border during a military operation for their trying to join the separatist Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), military sources told Xinhua on Tuesday.
The sources said that during the operation which started on Sunday, the Turkish security forces arrested two Syrian and two Turkish citizens on the Turkish-Syrian border near Sanliurfa province while they were trying to pass border in a bid to join the PKK.
The security forces also confiscated two Kalashnikov guns and some bullets, said the sources, adding that the operation in fight against the PKK has been continuing in the region.
Meanwhile, Turkish General Staff said in a statement on Tuesday that the Turkish army seized a large amount of illicit drugs besides some explosive materials which were found during operations staged in southeastern provinces of Diyarbakir and Bingol on Monday.
“The connection between explosives and illicit drugs (which were seized in the operations) is not a new incident for the Turkish Armed Forces. This face of PKK terrorist organization has been showed for many times earlier to Turkish public and the world. This recent example clearly shows that the terrorist organization continues to direct illicit drug trafficking,” said the statement.
The statement said the Turkish military will pursue its fight against the PKK and its supporters with determination.
The Turkish military has recently launched several cross-border attacks to fight against separatist PKK rebels, who use northern Iraq as a launch pad for attacks against Turkey.
The PKK, listed by the United States and Turkey as a terrorist group, took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in the southeast. More than 30,000 people have been killed in the over-two-decade conflict.