The Interior Ministry announced a new series of operations named "Bozdoğan-37" against the PKK terrorist group on Friday. Security forces raided the caves and similar venues used as shelters by the group in rural parts of Türkiye during the operations. A total of 92 caves and "accommodation spaces" were destroyed in the operations, authorities said.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said in a social media post that operations were carried out in 11 provinces, including Şırnak, Muş, Siirt, Hatay, Tunceli, Bingöl, Mardin, Bitlis, Diyarbakır, Van and Hakkari. Most of them are provinces where the PKK concentrated its attacks since its inception in the 1980s. The minister said operations focused on finding and destroying weapons and munitions stored in PKK hideouts. With no shelter in urban locations, the PKK takes advantage of mountainous territories in Türkiye’s southeast where its members spend winter in remote caves.
Thousands of security officers, from Special Operations units of gendarmerie to commandos and voluntary village guards deployed in former PKK hotspots, took part in operations. They were flanked by military helicopters and armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Yerlikaya also listed items captured in the operations, including 495 kilograms of explosive material, grenades, mortars, grenades, rocket-propelled grenade launcher munitions, hunting rifles, binoculars, thermal cameras and health kits.
"We are carrying out operations around the year, both in cities and in rural areas. Our counterterrorism fight will continue until the last terrorist is neutralized," Yerlikaya said.
The Defense Ministry announced on Thursday that 108 PKK terrorists, including ringleaders, were eliminated in northern Iraq and Syria in the past week.
Terrorists from the PKK and other groups, such as its Syrian wing, the YPG, and Daesh, rely on a network of members and supporters in Türkiye. Since Turkish operations have driven its domestic presence to near extinction, the PKK has moved a large chunk of its operations to northern Iraq, including a stronghold in the Qandil Mountains, located roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of the Turkish border in Irbil.
Türkiye has, over the past 25 years, operated several dozen military bases in northern Iraq in its war against the PKK and has been conducting airstrikes as part of "Claw" operations since 2022 to demolish terrorist lairs and prevent the formation of a terror corridor along its borders. Ankara has asked Iraq for more cooperation in combating the PKK, and Baghdad labeled the group a banned organization in March.
17 terrorists eliminated
Ankara battles the PKK/YPG in Syria’s northern regions and conducted a trio of successful counterterrorism operations there to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018) and Peace Spring (2019).
Similarly, on Friday, the Defense Ministry announced security forces eliminated 17 more terrorists in northern Iraq and Syria.
Ten PKK terrorists were targeted in Iraq's Khakurk and Gara regions, as well as the Operation Claw-Lock zone near Türkiye's border, the ministry stated on X.
In northern Syria where the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) conducted operations Olive Branch and Peace Spring, another seven PKK/YPG terrorists were also neutralized by Turkish soldiers, the statement added.
The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 and is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara, as well as the United States and the European Union.