Wanted PKK terrorists eliminated in Türkiye's Diyarbakır
Police raid a location in an operation against the PKK terrorist group, Mersin, southern Türkiye, Sept. 13, 2023. (DHA Photo)


Four terrorists on Türkiye's wanted list were "neutralized," Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced Monday. "Neutralized" refers to terrorists captured alive or presumed dead. Yerlikaya said they were listed in the red, orange and gray categories of the ministry's wanted list, with red implying the most wanted suspects.

The terrorists, identified as Hülya Demirer, code-named "Axin Mus," Cihat Ay, code-named "Rohat Pasur," and Çetin Temel, code-named "Demhat," were eliminated in an operation in the Kulp district of southeastern Diyarbakır province. The identity of the other terrorist remains unknown. "We will continue our fight with determination until the last terrorist is neutralized," Yerlikaya said.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Defense announced on Monday that three PKK members were neutralized in Iraq's north in operations by the army in Hakurk and Claw-Lock operation zone. Ankara maintains dozens of military bases in northern Iraq where it regularly launches operations against the group, which maintains a stronghold in the Qandil Mountains. In the last few years, intensifying operations in the region 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.

Last week, the Interior Ministry announced that Turkish security forces neutralized 214 PKK terrorists in the past three months. Türkiye was once embattled with the grave threat of terrorism from the PKK, Daesh and the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), which carried out the deadly 2016 coup attempt, and other smaller far-left groups. The PKK remains active in the country, although its terrorist attacks have been sizeably reduced in the past few years. Its last major attack was in Istanbul’s Istiklal Street, carried out by a member of the terrorist group’s Syria wing, known as the YPG.