Ankara: Turkish forces have neutralized 41 militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), banned by Ankara as terrorist, during an operation in northern Syria, the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
“Our heroic Turkish armed forces have neutralized 41 terrorists, hitting their cells discovered in the areas of Tell Rifaat and Manbij. We will continue to bury terrorists in holes they are digging,” the ministry said in a statement.
The armed conflict with the PKK began in Turkey in 1984 and resumed in 2015. The organization, which seeks the creation of an independent Kurdish state, including in Turkish territory, has established bases in Iraqi and Syrian territories close to Turkish border, where the Turkish armed forces have been targeting them in land and air strikes.
In late May, former Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said that Turkey does not intend to stop its military operations against the PKK in northern Syria and Iraq until the problem of terrorism is completely solved there.
