Turkish police have detained at least 32 people in a nationwide crackdown on suspected supporters of a Kurdish rebel group that is fighting for autonomy in the country's largely Kurdish southeast.

The operation is part of an investigation into alleged ties between Kurdish activists and separatist militants. It targeted the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party with simultaneous raids Friday on the homes and offices of party members, including the Ankara office of Kurdish lawmaker Leyla Zana.

Zana was convicted in 1994 of having ties to the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, and spent 10 years in prison. She recently caused an uproar for saying that weapons are “the insurance of the Kurds,” in apparent defiance of Turkey's calls on the rebel group to lay down arms.

Since 2009, hundreds of people, including lawmakers, mayors and journalists, have been arrested for suspected links to the Kurdistan Communities Union , which Turkish authorities believe is the political wing of the PKK.

The PKK has waged a campaign for autonomy in southeastern Turkey since 1984. The fighting has killed more than 40,000 people.

Turkey, the United States and the European Union consider the PKK a terrorist group.