Turkey: 735 PKK/KCK suspects nabbed in anti-terror ops.

By Yasemin Kalyoncuoglu

ANKARA

Security forces arrested 735 PKK/KCK terror suspects on Sunday plotting an attack before local elections in Turkey.

The Interior Ministry said that at least 150 counter-terror operations were carried out against PKK/KCK members and their supporters prior to the polls on March 31.

Turkey is gearing up for the local polls, held every five years, with 13 parties taking part this year.

The terror group members were planning to mark the 20th anniversary of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan's arrest.

Ocalan was arrested by Turkish security forces on Feb. 15, 1999 in Kenya and sentenced to death for forming armed gangs under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code. The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment as the death penalty was abolished in Turkey in 2004.

Ocalan has been imprisoned on Imrali Island in the Marmara Sea since his capture in Nairobi by Turkish forces.

In Sunday's operations, security forces seized long barreled weapons, shotguns, heavy weapon ammo, pistols, mines and handmade TNT explosives.

Turkish forces remanded 61 suspects and released 226.

Procedural acts for remaining 448 suspects are going on.

The PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU, waged a terror campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years and has been responsible for the death of nearly 40,000 people.