Turkish security forces have eliminated 1,835 terrorists of the PKK and its Syrian wing, the YPG, so far this year, including those hiding out across the border in Iraq and northern Syria, the Defense Ministry said Thursday.
A total of 33 terrorists were eliminated last week, a ministry official told reporters at a background briefing in the capital Ankara.
PKK/YPG terrorists often hide out across Türkiye's border in northern Iraq and Syria, where they plot attacks on Turkish forces or the local populations.
Türkiye’s military involvement in northern Iraq dates back over two decades, separately from its operations against the PKK, including the war against the Daesh terrorist group, which controlled much of the area, in 2014 and 2015, when Ankara was an ally in the U.S.-led anti-Daesh campaign.
The TSK regularly conducts cross-border operations in northeastern Syria as well where PKK terrorists have controlled much of the region since the forces of Syrian regime leader Bashar Assad withdrew in 2012.
Operation Euphrates Shield was launched in 2016, Ankara’s first cross-border operation in the region, as part of which Turkish forces have so far decimated thousands of both PKK/YPG and Daesh elements.
Euphrates Shield was followed by Olive Branch in 2018 and Peace Spring in 2019, toward the same purpose of quashing the terror corridor the groups have been trying to establish alongside Türkiye’s southern border, bringing peace to the region and facilitating the safe return of displaced locals.
All necessary measures are being taken to maintain security and stability in operation zones, and terrorist attacks are being met with proportional responses, the official added.
Since January, 433 incidents and attacks have been carried out by the terrorist group in areas under Türkiye's counterterrorism operation zones, and 1,340 terrorists have been eliminated in immediate responses by Turkish forces, according to the official.
Meanwhile, the alleged ringleader of the PKK's women's group in Norway, recently captured in a joint operation by Turkish Intelligence (MIT) and Istanbul police, is now facing trial in Türkiye for leading a terrorist group with a possible prison sentence of over 22 years.
Turkish prosecutors' indictment released Thursday stressed that at a meeting in the capital Oslo, terrorist sympathizers living in Norway took steps to establish a group called the so-called "Kurdistan Solidarity Foundation."
A PKK group alleged to be a Kurdish branch of the Red Crescent was also officially recognized as an aid group in Norway, it said.
The indictment also mentioned the involvement of the Mesopotamia Kurdish Culture Association in Stavanger, Norway, with ties to the terrorist group.
The indictment said that in the 1990s, the defendant Şirin Tokpınar had an informal marriage with PKK terrorist member Kasım Kocu, now deceased, adding that Tokpınar visited Türkiye every year and did research and prepared reports on families associated with the terrorist group that she met.
Tokpınar confirmed her participation in actions connected to 2012 protests for the release of terrorist PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan in front of the Council of Europe, as well as a 2014 visit to northern Iraq's Qandil region, where the terrorist group is based.
In May 2019, the defendant collected financial contributions on behalf of the PKK and transported them to members of the terrorist group in northern Iraq through Germany, the indictment said.
The indictment said that the defendant attended meetings and events organized by the terrorist group in Norway, and cellphone videos of these activities were discovered.
Tokpınar fled to Norway illegally 30 years ago with her four children.
The Turkish court accepted the indictment, which seeks some 15-22 years in prison for Tokpınar on the charge of leading an armed terrorist organization.
