Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) aided Syrian opposition forces in capturing a member of the PKK terrorist group's Syrian wing, the YPG, as she was trying to infiltrate Türkiye, security sources said on Friday.
MIT discovered that Helin Işenme, also known under several aliases, including Amara Amed and Sena, who was part of the terrorist group’s "intelligence network" in Syria’s Manbij, was planning to cross into Türkiye from Syria’s north. Acting upon intelligence, Syrian opposition forces detained Işenme. She was handed over to Turkish authorities. Işenme, who joined the terrorist group in 2016, had an outstanding arrest warrant issued by a court in the southeastern Turkish province of Diyarbakır in 2017.
In recent years, the Turkish intelligence agency has stepped up its operations abroad to stamp out terrorist activities in Iraq and Syria, Türkiye’s two southeastern neighbors. In 2022 alone, 23 senior figures of the terrorist group backed by the United States in Syria were eliminated in MIT’s operations in the two countries, while many PKK members were transported to Türkiye. Since 2018, Turkish intelligence forces have eliminated over 100 terrorists. In February, a PKK member behind a terrorist attack on Istanbul’s Istiklal Street last year was killed in an MIT operation in Syria.
For over 40 years, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the U.S., the United Kingdom and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
Since 2016, Ankara has launched a trio of successful counterterrorism operations – Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018) and Peace Spring (2019) – across its border in northern Syria and northern Iraq to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents.
Elsewhere, the Ministry of National Defense announced on Friday that two PKK terrorists were "neutralized" in Iraq's north, using a term to describe terrorists killed or captured alive in operations. The ministry's social media account tweeted that soldiers were "cornering" terrorists in northern Iraq.
"Two terrorists were neutralized by our Air Forces in the area of Operation Claw-Lock," the tweet said.
Türkiye launched Operation Claw-Lock last April to target the PKK terrorist group's hideouts in the Metina, Zap and Avasin-Basyan regions of northern Iraq, near the Turkish border. Two operations preceded it – Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle – launched in 2020 to root out terrorists hiding north of Iraq and plotting cross-border attacks in Türkiye.
The Turkish army aims to cut off supplies and the operational area for the terrorist group, whose leadership hides in the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq. Turkish airstrikes have frequently hit the Qandil area in the last decades, yet, ground operations have been scarce due to immediate security risks.
Qandil became the PKK's main headquarters in the 1990s after it used the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon as training grounds for many years. The first extensive operation against the PKK was carried out in May 1983, when 5,000 Turkish soldiers crossed the Iraq border and advanced 5 kilometers (3.11 miles). After a land operation in the Qandil Mountains to destroy PKK hideouts, they retreated. In the mid-1990s, the operations intensified due to increased PKK attacks and infiltration attempts near border towns that cost hundreds of Turkish soldiers' lives. In May 1995, the Turkish army launched Operation Steel with the participation of 35,000 personnel. The operation was followed by Operation Claw, launched on May 27, 2019, to eliminate the presence of the terrorist organization in northern Iraq.
The Turkish army maintains several outposts across the border and in Iraq's north in line with its self-defense rights under United Nations regulations against terrorism. Challenged by terrain and worsening weather conditions in the region, known for its harsh winters, soldiers are aided by their resolve and modern reconnaissance systems and domestically made weapons.