At a press briefing on Thursday, Defense Ministry press adviser Admiral Zeki Aktürk said Türkiye neutralized 1,927 PKK terrorists inside the country, in Iraq and Syria, including 59 in the last week. "Neutralized" is a term used to describe terrorists captured alive and dead.
“Thus, the number of terrorists neutralized since July 24, 2015, has reached 39,270,” Aktürk said, referring to the date of Türkiye’s first major cross-border operations against the terrorist group after a brief lull.
Aktürk also noted that 110 terrorists turned themselves in since January, pointing out that two terrorists surrendered last week after fleeing Iraq in the last instance of surrenders.
“Operations in Türkiye and beyond the borders dealt a heavy blow to the terrorist group and brought their activities almost to a halt,” he highlighted. Aktürk said security forces recently raided a large cave used as a hideout by terrorists in northern Iraq and confiscated a large cache of munitions.
In Syria’s north, Turkish troops faced terrorist attacks but duly responded to them, Aktürk said. He highlighted that terrorists carried out 445 attacks, including those involving harassment fire since Jan. 1, but Turkish forces retaliated by striking the terrorist positions.
On border security, Aktürk said they intercepted 12,467 people since Jan. 1 before they infiltrated into Türkiye, and 576 among them were terrorists.
Aktürk also spoke about Turkish humanitarian aid to Gaza and the army’s contribution. “Türkiye has always had a fair and humanitarian approach to the issue. We do not accept Israel’s cruelty (against Palestinians),” he said. Aktürk said the four-day humanitarian pause to the Palestine-Israel conflict was positive and they hoped this pause would eventually lead to an end to the conflict.
“But a lasting peace is not possible without a fair solution to the Palestinian issue,” he added.
He said that the ministry was coordinating with the Health Ministry and Air Forces Command and provided 11 planes to deliver 208 tons of humanitarian aid and 5 tons of medical aid to Gaza.
