PKK member Serhat Bal will stand trial for “participation in a terrorist organization” and is facing prison time of between five years to 11 years and three months after being caught by the National Intelligence Organization (MIT).
Following the investigation, Istanbul's Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment in which Bal provided testimony within the scope of “effective remorse.”
Bal confessed that he joined the rural wing of the terrorist organization at the suggestion of three people known as Enes, Nesrin and Zelal in Istanbul in October 2012. He said that he did not know the real names of the mentioned individuals but could identify them in photos. Bal also stated he first went to eastern Diyarbakır province, then to Mardin’s Kızıltepe and finally to Syria through illegal channels.
The defendant also said that he served as a fortification officer in the so-called "special forces" unit, to which the PKK attaches high importance, from 2012 to 2018 and took part in several cave and road activities of the terrorist organization.
"The location of the special forces is in the Sergela Gundefila area in the Gara region. I definitely did not participate in an armed conflict during my time in the organization. I myself had injuries,” he said, indicating he was injured two times during operations of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).
Bal, code-named “Koçer,” added he broke ties with the PKK in 2018 due to problems and planned to go to Europe in 2023.
In the indictment, it was evaluated that the defendant acted positively and harmoniously during the detention process, taking into account the statements he made regarding his position in the organization and the diagnoses he made. Bal will appear in court soon.
MIT announced capturing Bal last month, saying he was caught while trying to flee into Europe. MIT had been running a surveillance operation on Bal and located his last whereabouts to facilitate his arrest.
Both MIT and the TSK regularly conduct cross-border operations in Iraq and Syria. The PKK’s leadership hides out in Iraq’s mountainous north while the group enjoys U.S. support in northeastern Syria where it claims to fight against Daesh.
MIT had been quiet about its counterterrorism activities in the past, but Türkiye’s top intelligence body is now more open to publicizing its operations. This is largely due to the heightened success in the past two decades in finding and eliminating terrorists, whether in Türkiye or abroad. Through publicizing, MIT also aims to undermine the terrorist group's morale and vicious campaign of violence carried out for four decades that has killed thousands.
Flanked by armed drones, MIT agents carried out 181 operations in 2022 and eliminated 201 terrorists. It also destroyed 45 energy facilities and parts of infrastructure the terrorist group built or operated, along with locations used by the PKK to store weapons and munitions. High-profile names were also included in the 38 terrorists eliminated by MIT.
