Türkiye has eliminated 44 members of the PKK terrorist group and its Syrian wing YPG in northern Iraq and Syria in the past week, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
"As of today, the number of terrorists eliminated since Jan. 1 has reached 1,092," Brig. Adm. Zeki Akturk, the ministry's spokesperson, said during a weekly news conference in the Aegean coastal city Izmir, where the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) is holding the largest drill in its history.
The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 and is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara and its Western allies.
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 and has been conducting airstrikes as part of “Claw” operations since 2022 to demolish terrorist lairs and prevent the formation of a terrorist corridor along its borders.
Türkiye's cross-border operations into northern Iraq have been a source of tension with its southeastern neighbor for years. Ankara has asked Iraq for more cooperation in combating the PKK and Baghdad labeled the group a banned organization in March.
Last month, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held talks with officials in Baghdad and Irbil, the capital of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), about the continued presence of the PKK in northern Iraq and other issues. Erdoğan later said he believed Iraq saw the need to eliminate the PKK as well.
Ankara battles the PKK/YPG in the country’s northern regions, conducting a trio of successful counterterrorism operations there to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018) and Peace Spring (2019).
Aktürk also said that 316 individuals, including seven members of terrorist organizations, were nabbed while attempting to cross the border illegally over the past week, while 1,442 others were prevented from crossing the border.
"The number of individuals apprehended while attempting to cross our borders illegally since Jan. 1, 2024, has risen to 4,661 and the number of individuals prevented from crossing the border has reached 56,949," he said.
