December 12, 2016•Update: December 13, 2016
ANKARA
At least 235 people were arrested Monday across Turkey on terror charges, the country's Interior Ministry announced.
Anti-terror operations were mounted in 11 provinces to detain suspects who had allegedly engaged in activities of the PKK terror organization and spread terror propaganda on social media, the ministry said in a statement.
Police reports also said Monday that dozens of members of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) were arrested in separate operations across the country.
Suspects include HDP provincial heads in Istanbul, Ankara, Manisa, Adana, and Mersin, as well as district-level party heads.
The government has repeatedly accused the HDP of having links to the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU.
The arrests came after Saturday evening's deadly blasts in Istanbul left 44 dead and dozens of others wounded. At around 10.30 p.m. (1930GMT), a car bomb went off outside a football stadium in the city's Besiktas district, two hours after the end of a Turkish League football match. Seconds later, a suicide bomb attack occurred in Macka Park in the same neighborhood.
A total of 13 suspects linked to the bombings have so far been arrested.
Nine more suspects were also detained for social media posts over Saturday night's terror attack in Istanbul, anti-terror police said. Those suspects allegedly shared pro-terror posts which served terrorist organizations' propaganda.
Reporting by Aylin Sirikli; Writing by Ayşe Hümeyra Atılgan;
