ERZURUM, Turkey
A total of 137 PKK and YPG/PKK terrorists were neutralized this July by Turkish security forces in both domestic and cross-border operations, based on official reports and data.
Turkish authorities often use "neutralize" in statements to imply that the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.
Counter-terrorism operations were carried out during the month by the Turkish Armed Forces as well as the Security General Directorate, gendarmerie, and the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), according to information compiled by Anadolu Agency.
In July, as many as 186 suspects were detained and 40 of them arrested in operations against the terrorist group PKK and its youth branch in several provinces.
Security forces continue their work to eliminate terrorist elements at home and abroad without interruption.
The number of PKK members who surrendered to security forces through persuasion this year rose to 114 as of July 28.
- Interpol Red Bulletin
Security forces neutralized 15 terrorists in operations against terrorists who killed two Turkish soldiers in an attack on a military vehicle on July 24 in the Operation Euphrates Shield zone.
Cimsit Demir, codenamed Piro Karker, a suspected member of the terrorist PKK wanted by an Interpol Red Bulletin who apparently wanted to infiltrate Europe, was captured in northern Iraq and brought to Turkey by an MIT operation on July 29.
After joining the terror group in Turkey’s eastern Agri province in 2009, Demir was reportedly determined to cross from the area around Mount Tendurek to northern Iraq.
He reportedly operated on behalf of the group in Hakurk, Gara, and Qandil in northern Iraq, crossed into Syria in 2014 and took part in the terrorist YPG/PKK for a year, and finally worked with the PKK in Qandil, where the terror group is based.
An accused terrorist named S.T. allegedly robbed a Ziraat Bank armored car in the eastern Sirnak province in 2014 and was wanted for disturbing the unity of the state and the integrity of the country.
He was captured on July 10 by security forces in the eastern province of Van, where he is suspected of planning attacks on public institutions and officials.
-Heavy damage to terror group by air
On July 30, Turkish Armed Forces airstrikes on some 40 targets, including terrorist shelters, ammunition depots, bases, and caves in the Qandil, Gara, Hakurk, and Zap regions in northern Iraq, inflicted a heavy blow to the terrorist group.
Two terrorist PKK saboteurs named Baris Soydan and Emrah Yildizer, whom MIT found to be manufacturing handmade explosives to be sent from Iraq to Turkey, were neutralized in the countryside of Duhok on July 16.
As part of operation Eren-15, on July 22, three terrorists, including a top terrorist for Erzurum, were neutralized with their weapons in an operation supported by unmanned aerial vehicles and armed unmanned aerial vehicles in the Mount Kartevin area in Patnos, Agri.
Hakan Ates, codenamed Serdar Pir Avesta, a PKK logistics terrorist for Hakurk, was neutralized by the MIT on July 26.
- Attacks prevented
Accused terrorist H.H.C., a Syrian national who was found to have entered Turkey illegally from Syria, was allegedly caught preparing a bomb attack in the capital Ankara.
A cellphone ready to connect to bomb devices was seized on H.H.C., who was identified as having trained with the YPG/PKK, the Syrian extension of the PKK. Of the six suspects detained in the operation, three people, including H.H.C., were arrested on July 1.
In the southeastern province of Mardin on July 30, an accused PKK member allegedly preparing for a bomb attack was caught with two kilograms of plastic explosives during a road check.
In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is its Syrian branch.
*Writing by Merve Berker
