Turkey arrests senior DHKP-C terror suspect

By Mustafa Hatipoglu and Halil Demir

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish police arrested a suspect in Istanbul for his alleged links to the far-left DHKP-C terrorist group, a security source said early Friday.

Caferi Sadik Eroglu, a senior member of the group responsible for operations in Turkey, was arrested in Istanbul’s Sariyer district on the European side of the city.

Eroglu was in the gray category of the Interior Ministry's wanted terrorist list with a bounty of up to 500,000 Turkish liras (roughly $ 71,000) on his head. He had already been arrested and remanded in custody by a Turkish court but was later released on bail.

The wanted list is divided into five color-coded categories, with red as the most wanted, followed by blue, green, orange and gray.

Eroglu was arrested on Feb. 26, 2018 during a raid at the Idıl Culture Center along with Umit Ilter, who was in the gray category of the ministry's wanted terrorist list and was a senior member after the death of the group’s founder Dursun Karatas in 2008.

The DHKP-C is responsible for a number of terrorist attacks in Turkey, including a 2013 attack on the US embassy in Ankara in which a Turkish security guard was martyred.

The group is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU.