Turkish police arrested 86 people in the ten provinces on suspicion of having links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party. The police conducted operations in several provinces in the east and south-east of the country, in Adana and Istanbul. Arrests are carried out to prevent protest actions in connection with the eleventh anniversary of Abdullah Ocalan's arrest.

According to preliminary information, members of Party for Peace and Democracy, the Kurdish political movement, the authorities suspect of having links with the Kurdistan Workers Party (KWP), are among arrested, Lenta.ru reported.

The main objective of the KWP militants is an independent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey. The Kurds also the majority of the population in some northern provinces of Iraq, Syria and the north-west Iran.