Security operations have brought terrorism to near extinction within Turkish borders, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya declared Wednesday as he informed Turkish news broadcaster A Haber on progress in ongoing counterterrorism efforts.

"This is a time the putschist PKK is at its weakest and most desperate," Yerlikaya told a live interview and assured that the Interior Ministry has been "combatting the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) on all fronts and all the other terrorist organizations that exploit religion and the far-left."

In all 478 operations targeting the PKK terrorist group over the past two months, Turkish security forces eliminated a total of 119 terrorists, detained 740 suspects and arrested 182 terrorists, Yerlikaya said and added: "Terrorists are rendered immobile by both intelligence and surveillance capabilities."

Since taking office nearly two months ago following the presidential and parliamentary elections in May, the former governor of Istanbul said he has been touring southern provinces, which were greatly terrorized by the PKK since their formation in the 1980s, and recording a "significant determination among security forces to crack down on terrorism."

Referring to his first governorship post in the southeastern Şırnak province, which witnessed countless clashes between PKK terrorists and security forces throughout decades, Yerlikaya said he had observed a "stark difference" between the Şırnak of today and Şırnak of 16 years ago.

"In that regard, I would like to proudly say terrorism has come near extinction thanks to our modern, technological equipment, overwhelming numbers, psychological superiority and uninterrupted, successful operations," he said.

Expanding reach

Yerlikaya further informed that 454 operations conducted by some 13,608 troops were currently underway across rural areas countrywide against the PKK, as well as FETÖ, Daesh, and far-left terrorist groups.

In the said period, Turkish security forces have also carried out 905 operations against FETÖ, which orchestrated a defeated coup attempt in July 2016 that left over 250 people dead, Yerlikaya went on to say.

Some 212 of the 1,329 suspects were arrested and 261 others were placed under legal supervision, while in some 164 operations targeting Daesh, 20 terrorists were eliminated, 290 arrests were made and 44 suspects were placed under legal supervision, according to the minister.

Far-left terrorist groups too were hit, Yerlikaya informed. Two far-left terrorists were eliminated, 71 were detained, nine were arrested and 20 were placed under legal supervision following 43 operations.

In the meantime, authorities from the Interior Ministry, the Justice Ministry, the Treasury and Finance Ministry, as well as the Defense Ministry and National Intelligence Organization (MIT), have been working in coordination to shut down terrorism financing, with collective efforts helping seize a total of TL 174,807,979 in the past five years.

Between 2020 and 2023, authorities froze the assets of 1,395 individuals and 190 organizations funding terrorist groups, Yerlikaya noted.

The PKK is responsible for over 40,000 civilian and security personnel deaths in Türkiye over an almost four-decade campaign of terror. Türkiye has been conducting military operations in northern Iraq and Syria since 2015; its efforts also included the war against Daesh, which controlled much of the area in 2014 and 2015, when Ankara was an ally in the U.S.-led anti-Daesh campaign.

On Thursday, the Defense Ministry too confirmed that 892 terrorists have been taken out since Jan. 1 in the Counterterrorism Operation zone in northern Syria and Iraq, bringing the total number of terrorists eliminated in the region to 38,235 since July 24, 2015, according to the ministry’s press representative Col. Zeki Aktürk.

Irregular migration

Pointing out that irregular migration is a "global issue," Yerlikaya emphasized the ministry is also being "meticulous and sensitive" about curbing irregular flows into Türkiye.

The country currently has biometric records for the addresses and locations of all 4,888,286 regular migrants living inside its borders. Some 3,325,014 of these are Syrians under temporary protection status who streamed into the country from its southeastern neighbor when a civil war broke out more than a decade ago, while 294,880 people are migrants under international protection, Yerlikaya recalled.

Türkiye also grants legal residence permits for various fields like tourism, employment and health care, sectors in which the number of foreign nationals has reached 1,268,392, he added.

"Turkish citizens don’t have any problems with regular migrants and we are aware of their requests about irregular migration, which we have been fighting for years now," Yerlikaya argued.

Ankara views "international injustice" as the leading cause of irregular migration. Turkish officials say improving conditions in the countries where illegal migrants hail from is necessary, along with the need for voluntary returns in line with international standards for intercepted irregular migrants.

Türkiye sees the issue as something that needs international cooperation and seeks to establish bilateral, regional and international groups to ensure the cooperation. Last week, it joined over 20 nations and international organizations to launch the "Rome Process" to prevent and tackle irregular migration and human trafficking.

As such, the ministry has set up nine mobile migration offices in Istanbul equipped with biometric fingerprint scan systems to check registered or irregular migrants detected by field agents. Across Türkiye, there are deportation centers with capacities reaching nearly 16,000 people, an initiative launched to resolve the issue of undocumented migrants.

The mobile migration offices will be soon expanded to 39 in Istanbul and operate 24 hours to register unidentified foreigners, Yerlikaya said.

As for the number of deportations in the past two months, Yerlikaya informed 16,018 migrants were sent back, while some 19,502 others are waiting to be processed at deportation centers. Authorities are also cracking down on human smugglers, capturing 2,027 ringleaders and arresting 245 others.

On whether it was possible to eradicate illegal crossings entirely, Yerlikaya assured that the ministry was working on it, that border patrol was constantly on alert but that the wall along the Turkish border to Syria and Iran was only 20% complete.

Aktürk added that members of terrorist groups like FETÖ were also among those caught while trying to illegally cross Turkish borders. Authorities captured some 4,258 terrorists in 2023 and some 128,812 others before they could flee through the Syrian and Iraqi borders, Aktürk informed.

"Türkiye continues working to help ensure stability and normalization in Syria, as well as safe zones for the voluntary return of Syrian refugees," Aktürk said.