The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) eliminated a most wanted "senior" PKK terrorist in northern Iraq’s Duhok-Gara region during a cross-border intelligence operation, security sources said on Sunday.
The terrorist was Eyvaz Beyaz, codenamed "Zerdeşt Karadeniz," said the sources, who requested anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
After joining the rural establishment of the terrorist group in 1994, Beyaz attacked gendarmerie troops in Türkiye's Black Sea province of Sinop in 2010 and a police vehicle in the city of the same name in 2011. He also carried out a bomb attack against the gendarmerie in the Black Sea province of Trabzon in 2012.
Wanted by Interpol with a red notice, Beyaz is also on the Interior Ministry's list of wanted terrorists. He is also responsible for attacks on operations launched by Turkish security forces in the Zap region of northern Iraq, the sources added.
Last Thursday Turkish intelligence forces also eliminated Ahmet Gümüş, a so-called training officer of the PKK terrorist group, and then on Friday did the same to Neçirvan Seven, another wanted PKK terrorist, in northern Iraq.
The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) regularly conducts cross-border operations in northern Iraq, a region where PKK terrorists have hideouts and bases, from where they carry out attacks in Türkiye.
In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women and children.
Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry announced on Saturday that three PKK members surrendered to security forces in northern Iraq.
Flight from the PKK terrorist organization is continuing as a result of the Pençe operations, the ministry said, elaborating that the terrorists surrendered at the Habur border gate.
Türkiye launched Operation Claw-Lock last April to target the PKK terrorist group's hideouts in the Metina, Zap and Avasin-Basyan regions of northern Iraq, near the Turkish border. Two operations preceded it – Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle – launched in 2020 to root out terrorists hiding north of Iraq and plotting cross-border attacks in Türkiye.