The Turkish military eliminated at least 2,000 PKK/YPG terrorists in northern Iraq and Syria since Jan. 1, the Defense Ministry said Thursday.
“Fifty terrorists were neutralized in the past week. The total number of terrorists neutralized in northern Iraq and Syria since Jan. 1 has thus reached 2,013, with 1,017 in Iraq and 996 in northern Syria,” Defense Ministry Spokesman Rear Adm. Zeki Aktürk, told a weekly news conference in the capital Ankara.
Turkish authorities use the term “neutralize” to imply that the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.
Aktürk also said that 387 people, including 12 members of terrorist groups, were caught while attempting to cross the border illegally over the past week, while 1,667 others were prevented from crossing.
“The number of people apprehended while attempting to cross our borders illegally since Jan. 1, 2024 has risen to 10,478, and the number of people prevented from crossing the border has reached 76,989,” he said.
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.
In northern Syria, YPG/PKK terrorists threaten the Turkish border while trying to harass and attack local Syrians and Turkish troops promoting stability in a region once dominated by terrorist groups, due to a power vacuum in conflict-torn Syria.
Ankara has ramped up its cross-border operations in recent months against the PKK and YPG.
The aim is to rid the region of PKK/YPG, close the security loop along the Turkish border, and sever the ties between the group’s leaders in Iraq’s Qandil region and Syria.
Since Turkish operations have driven its domestic presence to near extinction, the PKK has moved a large chunk of its operations to northern Iraq, including a stronghold in the Qandil Mountains, located roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of the Turkish border in Irbil.
Türkiye has, over the past 25 years, operated several dozen military bases in northern Iraq in its war against the PKK and has been conducting airstrikes as part of its “Claw” operations since 2022 to demolish terrorist lairs and prevent the formation of a terrorist corridor along its borders.
