By Kemal Karadag, Sarp Ozer and Orhan Onur Gemici
ANKARA (AA) – Turkish security forces have dealt a heavy blow on YPG/PKK terrorists in recent months in operations targeting senior terror operatives, including those on a most wanted list of Turkey’s Interior Ministry, according to data compiled by Anadolu Agency.
Turkish authorities often use the word “neutralized ” in their statements to imply that the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.
The counter-terrorism operations have been jointly carried out by National Intelligence Service (MIT), Turkish Armed Forces, gendarmerie and police forces in eastern and southeastern Turkey, targeting terrorist bases and weapon depots.
The operations also targeted terrorist positions in northern Iraq and Mt. Qandil region.
– Senior YPG/PKK terrorists neutralized
Senior terror operatives in the terror group including many on the wanted list of Turkey’s Interior Ministry have been neutralized in eastern, southern, and southeastern Turkey.
Gazi Bahadir, codenamed Roni, was among four terrorists neutralized on July 1 in Beytussebap district of southeastern Sirnak province.
Serkan Tan, codenamed Serdar, who was sought on “green category ” on the most wanted list, was neutralized on July 8. Tan was “responsible for public relations and finance in Van province “.
Yunus Dalgin, codenamed Mervan, who was named under the wanted terrorist list's grey category, was neutralized in Nazimiye district of eastern Tunceli province on July 10.
Sefer Acar, a terrorist named in the top red coded wanted list, was among terrorists who were neutralized in an operation in eastern Bitlis province. Acar was the mastermind of a PKK attack in northern Iraq on a gendarmerie helicopter which martyred 15 Turkish soldiers.
Hasan Cakmak, codenamed Delil Karakocan, was one of the three terrorists killed in the airstrikes in northern Iraq on July 13. Cakmak was “the logistics coordinator ” of the PKK.
Mehmet Yakisir, codenamed Zeynel, the terrorist group’s top member in the Black Sea region, was killed on July 15.
Yakisir, who was in the red category of Turkey’s wanted list, had killed 15-year-old Eren Bulbul last August in Macka district, Trabzon province.
Aram Civan codenamed Osman Gulen — who was neutralized on July 23 in southeastern Diyarbakir — was in the grey category of the Interior Ministry’s most wanted list.
Hulya Eroglu was in the “red category” on the most wanted list and among the 31 terrorists killed during a counter-terrorism operation in Bestler-Dereler region of Sirnak province.
Another “red-category ” terrorist, Menafi Bayazit, was killed on Dec. 11, 2017 in Sirnak.
Ibrahim Coban, codenamed Atakan Mahir, is a terrorist included in the Turkish Interior Ministry’s red category of wanted terrorists and has been the so-called Dersim region head of the organization for the past 25 years. He was killed on August 11 in eastern Tunceli province.
A senior PKK/KCK figure in Sinjar province, Ismail Ozden, codenamed Mam Zeki Sengali, was neutralized in a joint operation by Turkish Armed Forces and MIT in Sinjar.
Ozden, 66, was in the red-category on the most wanted list and he reportedly “neutralized ” in an operation abroad.
