Türkiye eliminates top figure of US-backed terrorist group in Syria
A view of the MIT headquarters in the capital Ankara, Türkiye, Jan. 5, 2020. (AA Photo)


The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) "neutralized" Uman Derviş, a member of the PKK terrorist organization’s Syrian wing, the YPG, media outlets reported.

Derviş was in charge of the group’s forces in Manbij, according to the reports. "Neutralized" is used by Turkish authorities to describe a terrorist captured dead or alive. In most operations in Syria and Iraq where the terrorist group holed up, however, terrorists are killed.

Code-named "Şervin Derik," Derviş was also in charge of terrorist group’s cells organizing attacks in big Turkish cities. Security sources said that she orchestrated planned attacks against Turkish security forces in areas near Manbij, which were cleared of terrorists by the Turkish army in cross-border operations in the past years.

An undated photo taken in an undisclosed location shows Uman Derviş (in red circle) next to a man presumed to be the PKK/YPG's senior name Ferhat Abdi Şahin. (DHA Photo)

She was on the target list of the MIT after her involvement in attacks against Turkish soldiers and plots against Türkiye. Field agents of the MIT located Derviş in Manbij and eliminated her, along with her bodyguards, security sources said.

The terrorist joined PKK cells operating in rural Türkiye in 1998 and underwent training on explosive production, sabotage and assassination. Between 1998 and 2014, she operated in Iraq. That year, she trained terrorists who infiltrated Iraq from Syria and organized their return to Syria. In 2015, she secretly traveled to Türkiye and organized terrorist group’s activities in the western province of Izmir before fleeing to Syria. Between 2015 and 2016, she represented the PKK/YPG in Europe, where she held talks with officials from "some European countries," security sources said.