Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) has taken out another high-ranking member of the PKK/KCK terrorist group in an operation in the northern Iraqi region of Gara.
Müslüm Ürper, code-named “Soro Guyi,” served as the so-called special forces operative of the terrorist organization, the agency informed in a statement on Wednesday.
He first joined the groups’ rural cadres in 2013 and took part in street protests in Türkiye. He later moved to Syria where he helped organize numerous attacks against Türkiye.
After moving to Iraq in 2015, Ürper began overseeing the delivery of arms and ammunition for attacks on security forces and got caught on MIT's radar.
Following Ürper’s elimination, the terrorist ringleaders will likely struggle with finding a reliable courier, the agency noted.
The operation against Ürper marked the fifth high-profile PKK/KCK member Türkiye that has been eliminated in northern Iraq in the past month alone, including a training officer and a drone-maker.
The Turkish intelligence agency has stepped up its operations abroad in recent years 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 a large number of PKK members were transported to Türkiye.
Since 2018, more than 100 terrorists have been eliminated by Turkish intelligence forces. In February, a PKK member behind a terrorist attack on Istanbul’s Istiklal Street last year was killed in another MIT operation in Syria.
The PKK is responsible for over 40,000 civilian and security personnel deaths in Türkiye over an almost four-decade campaign of terror and Türkiye has been conducting military operations in northern Iraq since 2019, with both ground and air forces, to battle the organization.
In the last few years, the operations intensifying in northern Iraq have demolished terrorist lairs in Metina, Avashin-Basyan, Zap and Gara. After eradicating the group's influence in these regions, Türkiye also aims to clear Qandil, Sinjar and Makhmour.
Its military involvement in northern Iraq dates back over two decades, separately from its operations against the PKK, and also included 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.
