Türkiye’s security forces eliminated a total of 20 PKK/YPG terrorists in northern Iraq and Syria, the Defense Ministry announced Friday.
Some 14 PKK terrorists were targeted in the Hakurk, Metina and Gara regions, the ministry said on X.
Separately, it announced that six more PKK/YPG terrorists were eliminated in Operation Euphrates Shield and Operation Peace Spring zones in Syria’s north.
It reiterated Türkiye's determination to eliminate terrorism "at its source."
In recent years, Türkiye has stepped up domestic operations and efforts across its borders against the terrorist group and convinced a substantial number of members to abandon the PKK.
The PKK, which has massacred over 40,000 people in Türkiye in a four-decadelong terror campaign, is not designated a terrorist organization in Iraq but is banned from launching operations against Türkiye from Iraqi territory. The YPG is its Syrian offshoot based in northeastern regions close to the Turkish border.
Since Turkish operations have driven its domestic presence to near extinction, the PKK has moved a large chunk of its operations to northern Iraq.
Ankara maintains dozens of military bases there, and it regularly launches operations against the PKK, which uses a stronghold in the Qandil Mountains, located roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of the Turkish border in Irbil.
The PKK also occupies Sinjar and Makhmour and has a foothold in Sulaymaniyah, which sits in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous north controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), where the central Iraqi government has little influence.
Türkiye often criticizes the PKK’s gaining footing in Sulaymaniyah and warns that “further measures” would be taken if the city’s administration continues to tolerate terrorists.
Türkiye's cross-border operations into northern Iraq have been a source of tension with its southeastern neighbor for years.
Ankara wants Baghdad’s cooperation in eliminating the terrorist group “at its roots” and preventing the formation of a terror corridor along its borders.
As a result, Baghdad labeled the group a banned organization in March and set up two military bases in the Zakho region in April.
