The Turkish military has eliminated more than 2,400 terrorists from the PKK and its Syrian branch YPG since Jan. 1 in airstrikes on PKK/YPG targets across northern Iraq and Syria, the Defense Ministry said Thursday.
"Some 198 terrorists were eliminated in the past week alone. The total number of terrorists neutralized in northern Iraq and Syria since Jan. 1 has thus reached 2,419, with 1,256 in Iraq and 1,163 in northern Syria," Defense Ministry spokesperson Rear Adm. Zeki Aktürk told a weekly news conference in the capital Ankara.
Aktürk also said a total of 86 PKK/YPG terrorists surrendered to Turkish security forces since the start of the year after three more terrorists turned themselves into patrol officers on the Iraqi border last week.
On claims that Turkish bases in the region have been targeted by terrorists, Defense Ministry sources separately said such harassment attacks occur frequently, but they are retaliated against "immediately."
They assured no major incident passed in the past week, notably following a PKK attack on the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) in Ankara that killed five and injured 22 last Wednesday.
Türkiye has stepped up airstrikes in the wake of the attack, destroying hundreds of PKK targets.
In its nearly 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the U.S. and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
In northern Syria, PKK/YPG terrorists threaten the Turkish border while trying to harass and attack local Syrians and Turkish troops, promoting stability in a region once dominated by terrorist groups due to a power vacuum in conflict-torn Syria.
Türkiye aims to rid the region of the PKK, close the security loop along the Turkish border and sever the ties between the group’s leaders in Iraq’s Qandil region and Syria.
Greek visit
Defense Ministry sources also confirmed that a Greek General Staff delegation will visit Istanbul on Nov. 5-7 as part of the confidence-building measures plan between Türkiye and Greece.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will also visit Athens on Nov. 8 to hold bilateral talks with his Greek counterpart George Gerapetritis on topics expected to span irregular migrants to ongoing terrorism threats.
Greece and Türkiye, NATO allies but historic foes, have been at odds for decades over matters ranging from airspace to maritime jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean, energy resources and ethnically split Cyprus.
Fidan and Gerapetritis will explore whether conditions are favorable enough to initiate talks on the demarcation of the continental shelf and economic zone, Gerapetritis said last month.
An agreement on where their maritime zones begin and end is important for determining rights over possible gas reserves and power infrastructure schemes. A high-level cooperation council, at which the countries will assess progress, is expected to take place in Ankara in January.