Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) has eliminated a top wanted member of the PKK terrorist group in the northern Syrian city of Tal Rifat, the agency announced Tuesday.
Rıdvan Ulugana, a blue-listed fugitive code-named "Karker Tolhildan" and sometimes "Karker Soğaneke" or "Tolhildan Afrin," was the so-called executive of the Shahba region, MIT said.
Türkiye categorizes wanted terrorists in colored tiers, ascending from grey to red, with the blue list marking the second top tier.
Ulugana has been marked a priority target due to various attacks he conducted and others he ordered against Turkish security forces.
After insider sources and field agents confirmed for the MIT that Ulugana was in Tal Rifaat, the agency approved an operation. It was one of many offensives Türkiye has been conducting in the northern region of neighboring Syria, where PKK terrorists, as well as members of its Syrian affiliate, the YPG, operate a vast network of hideouts from where they devise and launch attacks on Türkiye.
Intensifying crackdowns on terrorists in recent years have fueled security concerns for PKK ringleaders, who stay indoors and avoid the field more than ever, Turkish authorities said.
Ulugana reportedly joined the PKK’s rural ranks in 2007, during which he was trained in sabotage acts at the group’s special forces camp in Iraq.
From 2011 to 2013, he participated in acts the group carried out in the Amanos Mountains, a mountain range stretching from southern Kahramanmaraş to the Hatay province on the Syrian border.
In 2014, Ulugana moved to Syria, where he was promoted to battalion commander of the PKK’s Operational Forces Command in the Afrin district. Later in the same town, he became the head of the Afrin camp.
When Ankara launched Operation Olive Branch in 2018 to target PKK elements in the region, Ulugana joined counterattacks against Türkiye. Between 2018 and 2023, he devised and ordered all strikes against Turkish forces, including those against Special Police Forces assigned to Syria, in April 2022.
Ulugana is described as an expert in developing terrorist attacks due to his experience working as a saboteur in the PKK’s special forces unit. He reportedly had the blood of dozens of people on his hands as the architect of countless attacks against groups, associations and civilians operating on behalf of Türkiye, as well as Turkish security forces in regions where operations Olive Branch and Euphrates Shield are being conducted.
Ulugana was also organizing the transport of terrorists from Tal Rifaat to Türkiye.
Turkish forces also eliminated two other PKK terrorists who were preparing to attack the Operation Peace Spring region in northern Syria, raising the number of terrorists eliminated in the region to 59 this year alone.
Euphrates Shield, Olive Branch and Peace Spring are a trio of anti-terror operations Türkiye launched starting in 2016 to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents across its border in Syria and Iraq.
In April, Türkiye also launched Operation Claw-Lock last year to target the PKK’s hideouts in the Metina, Zap and Avasin-Basyan regions of northern Iraq.
It was preceded by two operations – Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle – launched in 2020 to root out terrorists hiding in the north of Iraq. The YPG/PKK uses the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq as its stronghold, from where it devises and launches attacks on Türkiye and nearby cities and towns.
Most recently, Ankara launched Operation Claw-Sword to decimate YPG targets in Syria in retaliation for a deadly terrorist attack in Istanbul last November.