A total of 13 PKK/YPG terrorists were eliminated in northern Iraq and northern Syria, Türkiye's National Defense Ministry announced on Friday.
Six of the terrorists were targeted in the Gara region of northern Iraq, while seven were in the Euphrates Shield and Peace Spring operation zones in northern Syria, the ministry said on X.
A total of 292 PKK/YPG terrorists were eliminated in January in Iraq and Syria, according to figures from the ministry.
In its 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union, has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, infants and the elderly.
Security forces regularly conduct counterterrorism operations across the country, focusing on the eastern and southeastern provinces, where the PKK has attempted to establish a stronghold in its four-decade campaign of terror. Terrorists from the PKK and its branches, such as its Syrian wing, the YPG and Daesh, rely on a network of members and supporters in Türkiye.
Since the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, the PKK/YPG has attempted to exploit regional instability to create a "terror corridor" along the border with Türkiye.
Since then, Türkiye has repeatedly said it was time for the PKK/YPG to disband. Ankara considers the group, which the U.S. calls its ally in the anti-Daesh coalition, as an extension of the PKK terrorist organization.
Ankara has mounted multiple operations against the PKK/YPG in Syria since 2016. In Iraq, it maintains dozens of military bases, and its airstrikes regularly target terrorist hideouts. In 2022, it launched Operation Claw-Lock to target the terrorist group's hideouts in northern Iraq's Metina, Zap and Avasin-Basyan regions.
Türkiye has said the new Syrian administration must be given an opportunity to address the YPG presence but also threatened to mount a new cross-border operation against the PKK/YPG terrorists based in northeast Syria if its demands are not met.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has earlier called the YPG the biggest problem in Syria and warned the terrorist group would not be able to escape its inevitable end unless it lays down its arms.
