There are currently 124 PKK terrorists within the borders of Türkiye, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said late Thursday, expressing his belief that there will be none in the rural areas by next year.

Speaking in a televised interview, he said: "We are currently in the time period when the PKK received the strongest support, but we are in the time period when we destroyed and defeated it the most. I believe that in 2023, no terrorist will remain in the countryside."

Regarding the number of high-level terrorists eliminated in the country in the last year, Soylu said: "We neutralized 36 high-level terrorists in Türkiye, one of them from the red (category)."

In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

The most-wanted terrorist list is divided into five color-coded categories, with red being the most wanted, followed by blue, green, orange and gray.

He also reiterated Türkiye's criticism of its NATO ally United States for providing support to the PKK's Syrian branch YPG and said that the terrorist group received $2 billion from Washington in the last three years.

The PKK is a designated terrorist organization in the U.S., and Washington's support for its Syrian affiliate has been a major strain on bilateral relations with Ankara. The U.S. primarily partnered with the YPG in northeastern Syria in its fight against the Daesh terrorist group. On the other hand, Türkiye strongly opposed the YPG's presence in northern Syria. Ankara has long objected to the U.S.' support for the YPG, a group that poses a threat to Türkiye and that terrorizes local people, destroying their homes and forcing them to flee.

Under the pretext of fighting Daesh, the U.S. has provided military training and given truckloads of military support to the YPG, despite its NATO ally's security concerns. Underlining that one cannot support one terrorist group to defeat another, Türkiye conducted its own counterterrorism operations, over the course of which it has managed to remove a significant number of terrorists from the region.

Furthermore, local people living in areas held by the YPG have also long suffered from its atrocities, as the terrorist organization has a notorious record of human rights abuses including kidnappings, recruitment of child soldiers, torture, ethnic cleansing and forced displacement in Syria. The YPG has forced young people from areas under its control to join its forces within its "compulsory conscription."

Syrians in Türkiye

Regarding the return of Syrian refugees to their home country, Soylu said that they will certainly return when the conditions are right.

"We have responsibilities, we have humanitarian responsibilities, we have neighborly responsibilities. We cannot push those people to death, we cannot leave them to die," he said.

Soylu stated that according to their research, 70% of Syrian refugees stated that they wanted to return to their country.

Regarding the number of Syrian voters, he also said: "The number of Syrian voters is currently 120,000. We have made 211,000 citizens. Of these, 91,000 are children, so they are underage. The rest is 120,000."

According to official figures, Türkiye hosts some 5 million migrants from 190 different backgrounds, frequently urging the international community to take concrete steps to tackle the global migration crisis.

It's been more than 10 years since the first group of Syrian refugees, consisting of 250 people, entered Türkiye, starting their new lives in the country after fleeing the war and persecution of the Bashar Assad regime. Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Türkiye has backed moderate opposition groups against the Assad regime and opened its doors to those who had to flee the country to save their lives.

Now, Türkiye hosts more Syrian migrants than any other country in the world. The country also leads humanitarian aid efforts for Syrians in Türkiye and opposition-controlled areas of northern Syria while making large investments for Syrians in Türkiye in social cohesion policies to help them smoothly integrate into society.