Turkey ‘neutralizes’ 9 PKK/YPG terrorists in cross-border operations

ANKARA

At least nine YPG/PKK terrorists were “neutralized” by Turkish security forces in cross-border anti-terror operations, the National Defense Ministry said on Thursday.

Six of the terrorists were “neutralized” in northern Syria when they were preparing to carry out an attack in the Operation Euphrates Shield zone, the ministry said on Twitter.

Turkish authorities use the term neutralize to imply the terrorists in question surrendered, were killed or captured.

Since 2016, Turkey has launched a trio of successful anti-terror operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019).

Meanwhile, three more PKK terrorists were “neutralized” in northern Iraq.

The terrorists were “neutralized” as part of the Operation Pence-Simsek and the Operation Pence-Yildirim.

The PKK terror group often hides out in northern Iraq, just across Turkey's southern border, to plot terror attacks in Turkey.


The Pence operations are a series of offensives Turkey has carried out since 2019 against terrorist organizations in northern Iraq, particularly the PKK.

The latest ones are the Pence-Simsek and Pence-Yildirim operations, launched by Ankara on April 23 in northern Iraq’s Metina and Avasin-Basyan regions near its borders.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is PKK’s Syrian offshoot.