Three more PKK terrorists surrendered to security forces, the Interior Ministry announced on Saturday, as Turkey is stepping up its counterterrorism efforts both within the country as well as across its borders.
In coordination with the ministry and the persuasion efforts of the Gendarmerie General Command and police, the terrorists who fled the PKK surrendered.
It was determined that the terrorist members joined the PKK in 2014 and 2015 and were active in Iraq.
The latest surrenders brings the number of terrorists laying down their arms to 50 so far this year.
A significant number of suspected terrorists have begun to abandon the PKK and surrender, but many terrorists lack the courage to leave the terrorist group out of fear of severe punishment if caught.
The PKK's leadership is struggling to recruit both militants and higher ranks, according to reports. Additionally, many terrorists are reluctant to enter Turkey from Iraq to carry out attacks due to the high number of casualties.
In recent years, Turkey has stepped up domestic operations and efforts across its borders against the terrorist group and convinced a substantial number of members to abandon the PKK.
Protests by a group of families in front of the pro-PKK Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) headquarters in Diyarbakır demanding the return of their sons and daughters, who were recruited or kidnapped to fight for the terrorist group, have also helped increase the number of people surrendering.
Calls made by the families to their children urging them to return home and surrender, as well as the persuasion efforts by security forces, have been influential.
Bomb defused in Syria
Meanwhile, the ministry further said on the same day that security forces defused a bomb planted in a truck in Syria's northern Jarablus region, bordering Turkey.
According to the ministry, police received a tipoff that the truck carrying a bomb was left on June 21 in the border town by the PKK’s Syrian wing, the YPG, to be used in terror activities.
A bomb disposal squad reached the site and defused the bomb.
Furthermore, as counterterrorism efforts are ongoing, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) eliminated seven terrorists of the YPG in northern Iraq and northern Syria, the Defense Ministry said.
"Five PKK/YPG terrorists were eliminated by our Turkish Armed Forces in the (Operation) Euphrates Shield region in northern Syria and two PKK terrorists in the Operation Claw-Lock zone in northern Iraq," the ministry said on Twitter.
Turkey launched Operation Claw-Lock in April to target the PKK terrorist group's hideouts in Iraq's northern Metina, Zap and Avasin-Basyan regions near the Turkish border.
It was preceded by Operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle, which were launched in 2020 to root out terrorists hiding in northern Iraq and plotting cross-border attacks in Turkey.
Since 2016, Ankara has also launched a trio of successful counterterrorism operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield in 2016, Olive Branch in 2018 and Peace Spring in 2019.