At least 67 suspects were apprehended in the early hours of Tuesday in operations against the PKK terrorist group. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced that security forces conducted 466 operations against the group as of Tuesday morning.

The operations were concentrated in Şanlıurfa, a province in southeastern Türkiye, a region frequently targeted by the terrorist group. Some 55 suspects were detained in operations, which was the culmination of an investigation by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office in the province in coordination with the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and police.

They conducted simultaneous raids in 18 provinces. Suspects captured in operations were under MIT surveillance for about 10 months. The intelligence units sought to crack down on what PKK called its "military intelligence unit." MIT placed several names under surveillance in Türkiye, Iraq’s north and Syria before the operations.

Operations were carried out in Istanbul, Antalya, Adana, Bursa, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep, Mardin, Mersin, Denizli, Konya, Kayseri, Batman, Isparta, Balıkesir, Şırnak, Kocaeli and Amasya.

In a social media post on Tuesday, Minister Yerlikaya said that some 13,440 security personnel were involved in 466 counterterrorism operations at the moment as part of a nationwide operation entitled "Heroes."

He said 12 suspects had been captured so far in Mersin, Van, Şanlıurfa, Mardin and Aydın.

It is the biggest sweep against PKK this month, though security forces routinely launch raids to capture suspects linked to the terrorist group. It came at the heels of an attack by two terrorists at an Interior Ministry building housing Turkish National Police headquarters in Ankara on Sunday, just as the nearby parliament was about to begin a new session.

Two police officers were praised for their heroics as they stopped terrorists arriving with a large cache of explosives and weapons. One of the terrorists blew himself up at the gate of the building after he advanced towards the officers and opened fire. The other terrorist, who remained in the car the duo arrived, exchanged gunfire with officers before he was shot dead. PKK claimed responsibility for the brazen attack.

On Monday, another operation against PKK netted 20 suspects, including officials from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which is known for its ties to the terrorist group. A party official is accused of hiding PKK members and helping those wanted by authorities to flee abroad. Suspects are also accused of recruiting new members to the terrorist group and financing PKK.

Following the attack, the first major assault by PKK in a big city after the Istiklal Street attack in Istanbul, which claimed six lives last year, Türkiye signaled that it may launch a new cross-border offensive against the terrorist group. PKK controls swathes of land in Syria’s north under its Syrian wing, YPG. In Iraq’s mountainous north, the terrorist group’s leadership maintains hideouts.

Hours after the attack, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed the parliament and hinted at a lightning offensive. Though Erdoğan occasionally signals such operations, no comprehensive land offensive has been conducted abroad in the past few years. Türkiye often taps into precision strikes by intelligence units, and drones are at the forefront of the counterterrorism fight for PKK members holed up in Iraq and Syria. But a comprehensive land operation, with more boots on the ground, has been ruled out for a long time.

Erdoğan said that Türkiye mostly solved the "separatist terrorism problem" within its borders after it cost "a heavy humane and economic toll for four decades." They desired to eliminate the source of this threat by eradicating the existence of the terrorist group abroad, which constituted "a troublesome burden by imperialists on people of the region."

"We are preparing to advance our historical, political and military accomplishments in the past years. We will firmly continue our fight against terrorism until the last terrorist is eliminated, be it in our country or abroad. We will not allow the terrorist group to change the political agenda and hinder the progress of our country," he said.

For Erdoğan, the attack in Ankara was the final flutter of the terrorist group and they failed to achieve what they set out to do. He stated that Türkiye would maintain its strategy of a 30-kilometer (19-mile) deep "security strip" beyond its southern borders with Syria and Iraq and that "new steps" on this were a matter of time. "Never forget this: We can come suddenly one night," a remark echoed by Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler, a career commander, as he answered reporters’ questions about Erdoğan’s remarks on Sunday.

Türkiye has stepped up military action against the PKK in northern Iraq over the last few years in operations conducted under self-defense rights arising from Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.

The PKK is designated a terrorist group by Türkiye, the United States, Britain and the European Union. It launched a campaign of violence in southeastern Türkiye in 1984, and over 40,000 people were killed as a result.

Türkiye renewed its counterterrorism campaign in the past decade after a brief lull. In Iraq, it launched the Claw Sword operation in 2022 to eliminate terrorists hiding in the mountainous regions of northern Iraq. The offensive still continues with occasional precision strikes and "retaliation" strikes against terrorists engaging in harassment fire or trying to infiltrate into Türkiye to carry out attacks.

Similarly, the Turkish army regularly responds to attacks from Syria’s north, partly controlled by PKK’s Syria wing, the YPG. In 2017, it launched Operation Euphrates Shield in coordination with the Syrian opposition forces in Syria’s north. It cleared out PKK terrorists in a region between Afrin and Manbij, further driving PKK/YPG to Syria’s northeast. One year later, it conducted Operation Olive Branch in another push against the terrorist group.

Finally, in 2019, Operation Peace Spring was launched to create a "safe zone" near the Turkish-Syrian border, where terrorists often target Turkish towns on the other side of the border. Increased production of unmanned aerial vehicles and bolstered capacity of a professional army helped Türkiye achieve its counterterrorism targets. At the same time, the PKK/YPG in Syria enjoys support from the U.S. in the form of training and military equipment.