UPDATE INCLUDES OPERATION NAME, TERRORIST'S BACKGROUND
By Kemal Karadag and Sarp Ozer
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey “neutralized ” a most-wanted PKK/KCK terrorist in an operation in northern Iraq, the Turkish General Staff said on Wednesday.
Turkish authorities often use the word “neutralized ” in their statements to imply the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.
Turkish Army said on Twitter that PKK/KCK's senior figure of Sinjar town, Ismail Ozden — codenamed Mam Zeki Sengali — was neutralized in a joint operation by Turkish Armed Forces and intelligence in Sinjar.
It is reported that Ozden, 66, is the first PKK/KCK terrorist in the red-category “neutralized ” by Turkey in an operation abroad.
The wanted list is divided into five color-coded categories, with red as the most wanted followed by blue, green, orange and grey.
In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU — has been responsible for the death of some 40,000 people.
The operation was named after Bedirhan Mustafa Karakaya, an 11-month baby who was martyred in PKK bomb attack.
Last month, the baby and his mother Nurcan were martyred in a roadside bombing in the Yuksekova district of southeastern province of Hakkari.
Ozden was actively operating in Europe from 1992 to 1996.
Arrested in Germany for “being PKK member ” and “attacking workplaces of Turkish people ” in 1996, Ozden was released in 1998.
In 2018, Ozden began spearheading PKK/KCK terror activities in Sinjar.
