Turkish intelligence forces "eliminated" a so-called senior member of the PKK terrorist group in northern Iraq, security sources said Thursday.
Hatice Hezer, codenamed Berivan Zilan, was part of the HPG, the military wing of the terrorist group, in 2008, said the sources, requesting anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
She was tracked down by the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) in Iraq's northern Sulaymaniyah region.
Hezer joined the PKK in 1991 and became the leader of the terrorist group's women's wing in Armenia in 2004.
The sources said that she was involved with the HPG in 2008 and became the terrorist organization's so-called Syria official in 2017.
She is the younger sister of Tuğba Hezer Öztürk, a former lawmaker of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) for the eastern Van province, while her brother was also eliminated in a clash with Turkish security forces in 1998.
Turkish security forces regularly conduct counterterrorism operations in northern Iraq, a region where PKK terrorists have hideouts and bases from which to carry out attacks against Turkey.
Turkey has long been stressing that it will not tolerate terrorist threats against its national security and has called on Iraqi officials to take the necessary steps to eliminate the terrorist group. Ankara previously noted that it would not shy away from targeting terrorist threats if the expected steps were not taken.
In the last two years, the operations intensifying in northern Iraq have demolished terrorist lairs in Metina, Avashin-Basyan, Zap and Gara. After eradicating the organization's influence in these regions, Turkey also aims to clear Qandil, Sinjar and Makhmour.
The Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq are the PKK's stronghold and the group is active in many nearby cities and towns. It occupies a large number of villages in the region from where it launches attacks on Turkey.
This April, Turkey launched Operation Claw-Lock to target PKK hideouts in Iraq's northern Metina, Zap and Avashin-Basyan regions, near the Turkish border.
It was preceded by Operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle, which were launched in 2020 to eliminate terrorists hiding in northern Iraq and plotting cross-border attacks in Turkey.
