Türkiye ‘neutralizes’ seven PKK members in Iraq and Syria

Jul 22. () –

The Turkish Ministry of Defense reported on Saturday that the Armed Forces have “neutralized” seven members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and related organizations in attacks in Syrian and Iraqi territory.

“Our heroic Armed Forces have neutralized three PKK terrorists detected in the Asos region in northern Iraq, and four PKK/YPG (People’s Protection Units) terrorists in the Euphrates Shield and Peace Spring regions in northern Syria,” the ministry said in a statement.

The message is accompanied by a video showing several shots from artillery vehicles, rocket launchers and the take-off of an F-16 fighter jet, as well as the launching of several surface-to-air missiles. The forcefulness of the military means employed suggests that the neutralised PKK members could have been killed.

Since the PKK took up arms in 1984 to demand independence from Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast, more than 40,000 people have been killed in violence. The Turkish military operation is now expanding to northern Iraq and northern and northeastern Syria.