Security forces detained three suspects in an investigation into the activities of the YPG/PKK terrorist group in southeastern Türkiye and uncovered a conspiracy to kill Ibrahim Halil Yıldız, a lawmaker from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
Details of the operation last week, which was made public on Monday, show that two members of the terrorist group infiltrated into Türkiye from Syria. The two Syrian suspects captured in the province of Şanlıurfa, the constituency of Yıldız, confessed that a senior member of the terrorist group in Syria's Ain al-Arab (also known as Kobani), who uses the alias “Hacı” ordered them to kill Yıldız. The suspects also testified that “Hacı” sent them cash to help them with their mission through the third suspect, who was later arrested. The third suspect, identified as R.B. told interrogators that he was asked to carry out “reconnaissance” of Yıldız for assassination, in exchange for the release of his brother who was kidnapped by the terrorist group in Syria.
Yıldız, a lawyer and a member of the AK Party’s Central Decision-Making and Administrative Committee (MKYK), lost a brother and four other brothers were injured when three armed people fired upon his entourage during an election campaign visit in Şanlıurfa in 2018. Media outlets have reported in the past that Yıldız was on the PKK's “hit list.”
