2015 police raids in Turkey
The 2015 police raids in Turkey (24 July 2015) were a series of police raids conducted by the General Directorate of Security in 16 different Provinces of Turkey. The July 20th, 2015 Suruç bombing in Suruç killed 32 Kurds. Claimed by ISIS, it was perceived by Kurdish militants as a collaboration between ISIS and Turkey security services, leading to a series of revenge attacks on Turkish policemen and military positions in Adıyaman and Ceylanpınar. The Ceylanpınar incidents saw the assassination of 2 policemen by operatives of disputed affiliation, attributed to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and became the Casus belli for Turkey operations in both Turkey and Iraq.
| 2015 police raids in Turkey | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Turkey–ISIL conflict, Kurdish–Turkish conflict and the DHKP/C insurgency in Turkey | |
Police officers conducting a raid on terrorist suspects on 24 July 2015 – present | |
| Type | Police raids |
| Location | Over 64 Provinces of Turkey |
| Planned by | Ahmet Davutoğlu (as Prime Minister of Turkey) Sebahattin Öztürk (as Minister of the Interior) |
| Commanded by | Turkish government |
| Target | Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Kurdistan Workers' Party DHKP/C |
| Date | 24 July 2015 3:00 (EEST) |
| Executed by | General Directorate of Security KDGM |
| Outcome | 3,768 suspected terrorists detained 981 terrorists arrested |
| Casualties | 1 suspect killed during a police raid in Istanbul |
The operations began at around 3 am local time, after Turkish soldiers and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants engaged in a conflict in the town of Kilis near the Syria–Turkey border. The Turkish government, under significant political pressure to respond to the terrorist attacks by ISIL, subsequently began the police operations against suspects from ISIL, the PKK and also the far-left militant Revolutionary People's Liberation Party–Front (DKHP/C). By midday on 25 July 2015, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu stated that 590 suspects had been arrested.