PKK terrorist on most wanted list killed in north Turkey

By Orhan Onur Gemici

ANKARA

Turkish security forces have killed a senior member of the terrorist PKK accused of killing a teenager last year, officials said on Sunday.

Mehmet Yakisir, codenamed Zeynel, the terrorist group’s top member in the Black Sea region, has been killed, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Twitter.

Yakisir reportedly killed 15-year-old Eren Bulbul last August in Macka in the Black Sea province of Trabzon. Bulbul was murdered while showing security forces a PKK terrorist hideout.

Yakisir was in the red, most-wanted category of Turkey’s wanted terrorists list. Levent Dayan, codenamed Rodi, was also killed in Kurtun, Gumushane, in the Black Sea region, said an Interior Ministry statement.

“I congratulate our heroic police officers who killed two terrorists who were plotting a [terrorist] action,” said Soylu.

The counter-terrorist operation is still ongoing, the ministry added.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU.