Seven suspects were detained in operations against the terrorist group PKK on Tuesday, while two others turned themselves in to Turkish authorities.
In Istanbul, police nabbed four out of five wanted suspects as part of a counterterrorism operation. In Mersin, three suspects were detained and two among them were remanded in custody while another suspect was released pending trial. One of them was already on a wanted list of the Interior Ministry because of his involvement in the notorious “ditch incidents” in southeastern Türkiye in 2015, where PKK supporters dug ditches and set up barricades before attacking security forces. He was planning to flee abroad when he was captured, Turkish media outlets said.
Elsewhere, two PKK terrorists who fled shelters in northern Iraq have surrendered to Turkish authorities, the National Defense Ministry said on Monday.
"As a result of determined operations by the Turkish Armed Forces, two PKK terrorists who had fled from shelters in northern Iraq surrendered to our border post in Habur," the ministry wrote on X. "The only way out for terrorists is to surrender to Turkish justice."
PKK terrorists often hide in northern Iraq and Syria to plot cross-border attacks in Türkiye.
In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the U.S., U.K. and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
Terrorists from the PKK and other groups, such as its Syrian wing, the YPG, and Daesh, rely on a network of members and supporters in Türkiye. In response, Ankara has been conducting pinpoint operations and freezing assets to eliminate the terrorist groups at their roots.
Turkish airstrikes also target PKK/YPG hideouts in northern Iraq and Syria. Since Turkish operations have driven its domestic presence to near extinction, the PKK has moved a large chunk of its operations to northern Iraq, including a stronghold in the Qandil Mountains, located roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of the Turkish border in Irbil.
Türkiye has over the past 25 years operated several dozen military bases in northern Iraq in its war against the PKK, as well as the war against Daesh, which controlled much of the area, in 2014 and 2015, when Ankara was an ally in the U.S.-led anti-Daesh campaign.
Ankara launched Operation Claw-Lock in April 2022, the latest in the string of cross-border “Claw” offensives kicked off in 2019, to demolish terrorist lairs across Metina, Avashin-Basyan, Zap and Gara districts.
In Syria, Türkiye conducted a trio of successful counterterrorism operations to both 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.
