Turkish military eliminated a total of 106 terrorists in operations against the PKK and YPG in Syria and Iraq over the past week, including 15 more on Friday.
The Defense Ministry said 11 PKK/YPG terrorists were eliminated in northern Iraq’s Qandil, Asos, Gara and Hakurk regions while four others were eliminated in areas of Operation Euphrates Shield in Syria’s north.
Earlier on Thursday, the ministry’s spokesperson Rear Admiral Zeki Aktürk announced at a weekly briefing that a total of 94 terrorists were eliminated in the past week, including one listed in the red category of the wanted list for terrorism.
Aktürk said the total number of terrorists eliminated in northern Iraq and Syria since Jan. 1 reached 1,521, with 726 eliminated in northern Iraq and the remaining 795 in northern Syria.
He also stated that 395 people, including eight members of terrorist organizations, were nabbed while attempting to cross the border illegally over the past week, while 834 others were prevented from crossing.
“The number of people apprehended while attempting to cross our borders illegally since Jan. 1, 2024, has risen to 7,102, and the number of people prevented from crossing the border has reached 66,059,” he said.
The PKK is known for using northern Iraq, near the Turkish border, as a hideout to plot terrorist attacks and for launching attacks both on nearby Türkiye and locals in northern Syria.
Since 2016, Ankara has also 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).
In its nearly 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the U.S. and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot.
Last week, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan renewed Türkiye’s pledge to eradicate the PKK as he answered a question on an all-out summer offensive in Iraq he had hinted at earlier.
“They are going to pay the price. Counterterrorism is not a simple matter of numbers, and you cannot be sure about it. But our fight will continue to the very end. Their end is near. We will end this issue. We are retaliating and they are desperate, seeking support. Yet, they will fail. Our soldiers, police and intelligence are in the field and breathing down their necks. Those caves cannot protect them,” he said, referring to the hideouts of PKK leadership.
