Two Highways Closed For Security Reasons In Eastern Turkey

The Tunceli Governorate has decided to close the Tunceli-Erzincan and Tunceli-Ovacık highways to traffic for three days, citing security reasons.

The southeastern highways, on which terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) members frequently intercept vehicles and run ID checks, were closed to traffic early on Sunday. The highways were closed as security forces are planning to launch an operation that will include them.

Tensions have been flaring in southeastern Turkey ever since July, when 32 activists were killed and more than 100 wounded in an Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) suicide bombing in the Suruç district of the province of Şanlıurfa. Following the tragic incident, the PKK and the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has blamed the government for not doing enough to prevent ISIL attacks.