Turkish security forces have dismantled and struck terrorist targets both at home and across the border in northern Syria and Iraq, authorities said on Friday, in retaliation for last week’s attacks in the region as well as the capital Ankara.
A Defense Ministry statement said on Thursday that Turkish jets have carried out airstrikes on some 30 sites in northern Syria’s Tal Rifaat, Jazeera and Derik regions, destroying caves, bunkers, shelters and warehouses used by the PKK terrorist group and its U.S.-backed Syrian offshoot, known as the YPG.
Türkiye has intensified its strikes on PKK/YPG terrorists in Iraq and Syria since the group claimed a suicide attack outside the Interior Ministry building in Ankara in which one PKK terrorist blew himself up, another would-be bomber was killed in a shootout with police resulting in two police officers being wounded.
Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on Friday informed some 23 suspects spreading PKK propaganda on social media platforms regarding the attack were apprehended.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the two assailants had arrived from Syria, where they had been trained. He said PKK and YPG positions in Iraq and Syria had now become legitimate targets.
Similarly, on Friday, the Defense Ministry reported that 26 PKK/YPG terrorists were eliminated in the Dabiq district inside the region where Ankara conducted Operation Euphrates Shield in 2016.
Turkish forces “retaliated in kind” to attacks by PKK/YPG terrorists in the region, the ministry said.
It further informed that a Turkish soldier who was injured in terrorists' harassing fire during an operation in northern Iraq succumbed to his injuries.
Specialist Sgt. Recep Parlak was injured when terrorists opened harassing fire on Türkiye's Operation Claw-Lock zone on Sept. 11, the ministry said.
Parlak succumbed to his wounds in hospital on Thursday.
The ministry extended condolences to Parlak's family, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and the entire nation.
The terrorists' affiliation was not specified, but the PKK terror group has been known to be active in the region.
Türkiye launched Operation Claw-Lock last year in April to target the PKK terrorist group's hideouts in the Metina, Zap and Avasin-Basyan regions of northern Iraq, located near the Turkish border.
It was preceded by two operations – Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle – launched in 2020 to root out terrorists hiding in northern Iraq and plotting cross-border attacks in Türkiye.
Ankara lists the YPG as a terrorist organization and says it is indistinguishable from the PKK, which has led a bloody terrorist campaign against the Turkish state since 1984 in which more than 40,000 people have been killed.
The United States, Britain and the European Union deem the PKK, but not the YPG, as terrorists.
Defense Minister Yaşar Güler and his U.S. counterpart Lloyd James Austin highlighted the importance of close coordination between U.S. and Turkish forces in Syria as Türkiye continued targeting terrorists there, officials said on Thursday.
Güler told Austin over the phone that Türkiye is ready to wage a joint fight against Daesh terrorists while Chief of Staff Gen. Metin Gürak also discussed the latest developments with his American counterpart Gen. Charles Q. Brown, the Turkish military said.
Support for the PKK/YPG by the United States and other allies, including France, has strained ties with Ankara.
Türkiye has warned forces of third countries to stay away from facilities controlled by the PKK and YPG.
Meanwhile, Türkiye intensified its crackdown on terrorist cells at home as well, apprehending over 100 suspects linked to the PKK in the past two days alone.
Some 75 people suspected to be members of the terrorist group were detained in simultaneous raids dubbed "Operation Heroes" across 11 provinces, including border provinces of Hakkari, Mardin, Ağrı, Bitlis and Şırnak where PKK members have historically occupied.
“We will not stop hunting down terrorists at home and abroad until there is no more terrorist left standing,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.
Two suspects, Ferhat G. and Hamza A., detained along with six foreign nationals working for the YPG in Istanbul as part of the operation, were revealed to have illegally entered Türkiye from Greece after being trained at the Lavrion Camp there, according to Istanbul police.
The notorious Lavrion camp near Athens, which dates back to 1947, is often described as a hotbed of terrorism by Ankara. The camp scene resembles a terrorist base, with terrorist symbols and pictures of its imprisoned ringleader Abdullah Öcalan adorning its walls.
Turkish officials frequently said the camp harbors “everything ranging from the DHKP-C (Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front), the PKK and FETÖ (Gülenist Terror Group).”
Greece has long been accused of being a favorite hideout for terrorists from the DHKP-C and PKK. Those fleeing Türkiye have sought shelter in refugee camps in Lavrion under the guise of being asylum-seekers, especially in the 1980s. Despite the closure of Lavrion in 2013 amid pressure from Türkiye, Greece continues to be the primary destination for DHKP-C terrorists.
Also on Friday, Turkish police detained a group of provincial and district chairs of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which is currently facing a ban lawsuit for its alleged links to the PKK.
Vedat Çınar Altan, Berna Çelik and Nihat Türk were brought in as part of an anti-terrorism probe in the western province of Izmir, the city police said.
Dozens of HDP members have been apprehended since violent events that would become known as the Oct. 6-7 "Kobani riots" in 2015. A total of 31 people were killed and some 350 others were injured in clashes between pro-PKK and conservative Kurdish groups and security forces throughout Türkiye, especially in the southeast.
The HDP has often come under fire for transferring taxpayers' money and funds to the PKK. HDP mayors and local officials have been found guilty of misusing funds to support the PKK and provide jobs to the terrorist group’s sympathizers.
