The Ýstanbul Police Department's Counterterrorism Unit has detained 20 people this morning the Avcýlar, Beylikdüzü and Esenyurt districts of Ýstanbul. The new arrests have been made in the context of the ongoing KCK operation (Kurdish Communities Union).

The detainees were first taken to the Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) for a mandatory health check and then taken to a police station in Ýstanbul's Fatih district.

The KCK investigation began in December 2009, and thousands of Kurdish politicians, including several mayors from the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), have been detained.