The Turkish military has eliminated a total of 1,000 PKK/YPG terrorists, including ringleaders, in northern Iraq and Syria since the start of 2024, as Ankara maintains its pressure on the terrorist group.
Security forces eliminated 47 terrorists in northern Iraq and Syria in the past week alone, Defense Ministry spokesperson Zeki Aktürk said Thursday.
“Two PKK terrorists fleeing shelters in northern Iraq surrendered to Turkish border guards in the past week,” Aktürk told reports in Ankara at a weekly briefing.
He also revealed the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) discovered a cave of four rooms belonging to the PKK in the region where it’s conducting Operation Claw-Lock in northern Iraq.
Security forces seized anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons, rocket launchers, mortar bombs, rifles, sniper rifles, machine guns, ammunition, hand grenades, binoculars, wireless transmitters and various other equipment in this cave, Aktürk informed.
As part of Operation Claw-Lock, which was launched in April 2022, a total of 931 terrorists have been eliminated, 1,970 weapons, 837,630 units of ammunition, 2,741 grenades and handmade explosives were confiscated and 1,021 caves and bunkers were destroyed so far, Aktürk added.
He said 493 individuals, including members of terrorist organizations, were nabbed while attempting to cross Turkish borders illegally over the past week.
“The number of individuals apprehended while attempting to cross our borders illegally since Jan. 1, 2024, has risen to 3,981, and the number of individuals prevented from crossing the border has reached 54,117," Aktürk said.
Terrorists from the PKK and other groups, such as its Syrian wing, the YPG and Daesh, rely on a network of members and supporters in Türkiye.
Also on Thursday, police in the eastern Şırnak province said it detained 40 suspects linked to PKK in citywide raids.
The suspects were charged with operating within the PKK and spreading terrorist propaganda in the Idil, Cizre and Silopi districts of Şırnak.
Authorities also seized a large cache of digital materials and documents during the raids.
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 attacks 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 battled the PKK’s Syrian offshoot, the YPG, in the country’s northern regions and conducted 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).
Turning to domestic defense industry activities, Aktürk on Thursday also informed Turkish rocket and missile producer Roketsan to begin delivering its domestically-produced heavyweight torpedo AKYA submarines on May 7.
“We have also completed the inspection and admission of training helicopters and recently modernized M60 T tanks,” Aktürk said.
“Our Turkish Armed Forces will continue increasingly striving to help facilitate global peace, security and stability, including in our immediate region,” he concluded.
Ministry sources added that Turkish authorities held “sincere and constructive” talks with the Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov in Ankara earlier this week.
“We reiterated Türkiye’s support of Ukrainian independence and territorial integrity, firm belief in preventing tensions in the Black Sea and uncompromising commitment to fulfilling the Montreux Convention,” sources said.
Ankara has further expressed its efforts to renew the Black Sea grain deal, which collapsed with Russia's withdrawal last July.
