The Turkish Government communicates that it has “neutralized” the suspects after an air attack
The Government of Turkey announced this Monday the “neutralization” of a total of 13 suspected “terrorists” of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Syria.
The Turkish Ministry of Defense has announced on Monday morning that five members of the PKK/YGL have been “neutralized” in northern Syria, without giving further details about the operation carried out jointly with the National Intelligence Organization. Hours later, the ministerial portfolio has added another eight suspected terrorists to the number of “neutralized” by the country’s Army.
“Harassing shots by terrorists do not go unpunished. Eight PKK/YPPG terrorists, who opened fire to disturb the peace and security of the Peace Spring region in northern Syria, have been neutralized by our Forces. Turkish Armed Forces”, the Ministry has indicated through its account on the social network Twitter.
Turkey uses the term “neutralized” to refer to suspects who have deadhave been captured or have surrendered to the authorities. Being bombings, it is understood that Ankara considers them dead.
The Turkish Army has intensified its operations against the PKK both in Syria and in northern Iraq since the ceasefire between the Government and the armed group was broken in July 2015. The breakdown of the ceasefire took place shortly after that the government and the guerrillas signed the so-called Dolmabahce agreements to advance in the peace talks and after the historic entry into the Turkish Parliament of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). Turkey regards the YPG — Syrian-Kurdish militia People’s Protection Units (YPG) — as the Syrian affiliate of the armed group PKK, with a presence in Turkey. The YPG are in turn the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), key in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria.