The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) has eliminated Gülistan Tekik, a so-called senior member of the PKK terrorist group, in northern Iraq, Turkish security sources said Wednesday.
A targeted operation was carried out in the city of Sulaymaniyah after MIT received intelligence about the presence of Tekik in the city, the sources said.
Tekik joined the terrorist organization in 1998 and had been wanted for “being a member of an armed terrorist organization.”
She was determined to have a fake identity card prepared for her on the special instructions of Murat Karayılan, one of the leaders of the PKK/KCK terrorist group.
Tekik was reportedly a key figure in the terrorist organization’s activities in the region.
She was carrying out propaganda and disinformation activities for the terrorist organization with the support of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), as well as recruitment activities.
This operation was part of Türkiye’s ongoing counterterrorism efforts against the PKK, which it, along with the U.S. and the EU, designates as a terrorist organization.
In its 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children, infants and the elderly.
Since Turkish operations have driven its domestic presence to near extinction, the PKK has moved a large chunk of its operations to a stronghold in the Qandil Mountains, located roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of the Turkish border in Irbil. It’s not designated a terrorist organization in Iraq but is banned from launching operations against Türkiye from Iraqi territory.
Ankara maintains dozens of military bases there, and it regularly launches operations against the PKK.
Since the start of the year, Ankara has hinted at a final summer offensive against the PKK in both northern Iraq and Syria, where the PKK operates with its local offshoot, the YPG.
Defense Minister Yaşar Güler said that the ongoing Operation Claw-Lock, launched in April 2022, would be completed before the winter to sever the ties between Syria and Qandil.
Türkiye aims to wipe out the PKK from its borders and create an approximately 40-kilometer-deep security corridor along the Iraqi and Syrian borders.
Both MIT and the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) have since ramped up strikes on the “terror corridor” in the region, indicating a wider offensive may already be underway.
Ankara also wants Iraq’s cooperation in eradicating the terrorist group at its roots and signed a deal with Baghdad last week to set up joint security centers to combat the PKK in the region.
