By Baris Gundogan
ERZURUM, Turkey (AA) – More than 4,400 terrorists have been “neutralized” in Syria’s Afrin region so far since the start of the Turkish-led Operation Olive Branch, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday.
Speaking at his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party’s rally in eastern Erzurum province, Erdogan said: “4,475 terrorists have been neutralized in Afrin so far.”
Turkish authorities often use the word “neutralized ” in their statements to imply that the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.
Turkey also “neutralized ” 414 PKK terrorists in the operations being conducted in northern Iraq, he said.
The president also said anti-terror operations neutralized 398 terrorists inside the country.
Listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU, the PKK has waged a wide-ranging terror campaign against the Turkish state since the mid-1980s, in which an estimated 40,000 people have been killed.
