Anti-PKK sweep detains 30 in İzmir

The state-run Anatolia news agency reported that operations were launched in five provinces including Istanbul and Ankara, and the western cities of İzmir and Manisa as well as the eastern province of Van.

The operation was launched and conducted by the Gendarmerie Command Headquarters of İzmir, the report said. Teachers and union officials were among those detained in the operations, it said. Unions were quick to condemn the move.

The gendarmerie searched the office of an executive of the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions, or KESK, in Ankara, according to the agency.

Union officials confirmed that two KESK members were taken into custody and that searches were conducted in the offices as part of the operation, which they defined as "unacceptable."

"This is said to be an anti-terror operation, and they are trying to link KESK to this. It is impossible to accept this," KESK Secretary-General Emirali Şimşek told reporters in a televised press conference.

He slammed the raids on the KESK office, saying it was a "threat" to the elements of democracy and labor rights. A number of KESK members were present and chanted anti-government slogans during the conference.

Authorities detained dozens of people, including members of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, or DTP, in a crackdown on suspected PKK supporters earlier in April. It is yet to be confirmed whether Thursday’s detentions were related to the earlier operation. In Ankara, a group of KESK members staged a sit-down demonstration against the detentions and chanted slogans against the government, also backed by some political party officials including Freedom and Solidarity Party, or ÖDP, leader and Istanbul deputy Ufuk Uras.

"The mounting police pressure upon our confederation, which is a labor organization, is not match with any of the democratic standards," said KESK’s Şimşek.