More than 50 people with ties to an extremist Marxist group have been arrested in co-ordinated operations across Europe.

Police in Istanbul arrested 37 suspected members of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party Front, known by its Turkish acronym DHKP-C.

Another 16 suspects were taken into custody in Italy, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Smoke rising from the HSBC Bank in Istanbul last November (AP Photo)
Smoke rising from the HSBC Bank in Istanbul last November (AP Photo)

The group has claimed responsibility for bombings in Turkey in November.

Sixty-one people died in the attacks on two Istanbul synagogues, the offices of a British-based bank and the British consulate.

DHKP-C aims to topple the Turkish government and replace it with a Marxist government and is regarded as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the European Union.