Turkish security forces killed a category red wanted senior PKK terrorist during counterterrorism operations in southeast Türkiye, the Interior Ministry said Saturday.
PKK terrorist Hamiyet Yalçınkaya, who was on the Interior Ministry’s red list of most wanted terrorists, was one of the seven terrorists killed in an operation carried out by the gendarmerie forces in Şırnak’s Bestler Dereler area on Jan. 22, the ministry said.
Yalçınkaya, code-named "Leyla Amed," was the terrorist group’s so-called highest-ranking official operating in Türkiye, according to the ministry.
Yalçınkaya, who was in charge of the Bohtan region in Şırnak, was trained at PKK camps both within and outside of Türkiye to be used in leading high-level operations.
Testimonies from PKK members who either surrendered or were caught confirmed Yalçınkaya ordered and personally took part in many terrorist acts, including a series of armed attacks across the Diyarbakır countryside between 1993-1996.
"Yalçınkaya told me she had partaken in the attack that martyred nine security forces in Hakkari’s Yüksekova district on June 19, 2012," Fırat Şişman, a PKK terrorist, code-named "Özgür Gabar" who was caught in 2021, told Turkish authorities.
Yalçınkaya was also revealed to have been behind a series of terrorist attacks that killed 49 people, including 12 gendarmerie personnel, 10 land troops, 14 security rangers, three police officers and 10 civilians, between 2018-2023.
Since 2018, the terrorist ringleader has been orchestrating dozens of attacks in the Şırnak, Siirt, Van and Mardin provinces.
The Interior Ministry’s wanted list is divided into five color-coded categories, with red as the most wanted, followed by blue, green, orange and gray.
The PKK has been responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands since the 1980s in its campaign of violence. However, continued counterterrorism operations reduced the number of its members hiding in Türkiye to below 120. Still, the terrorist group has more members hiding in mountainous territories of northern Iraq and Syria’s northeast near the Turkish border.
Figures by the Interior Ministry suggest that 8,410 suspects aiding and abetting the PKK were detained last year, while 125 members of the terrorist group were convinced by authorities to surrender in 2022. In 2014, over 5,500 people joined the terrorist group, while it dropped below 1,000 in 2016. Last year, only 57 people joined the group.