170 top-level PKK members killed since September 2016

By Yunus Okur

ERZURUM, Turkey

Turkish security forces have neutralized so-called 170 top-level YPG/PKK terrorists since September 2016, including many on the wanted list of Turkey’s Interior Ministry, according to an Anadolu Agency data analysis.

During counter-terrorist operations, security forces have targeted places where the terrorists were concentrated and their bases, which mainly include eastern and southeastern Anatolian provinces such as Hakkari, Tunceli, and Diyarbakir.

Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralized" in their statements to imply that the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.

According to data compiled by Anadolu Agency, most of the terrorists who replaced ones who were killed were also then arrested.

Terrorists on the top “red” most wanted list killed since September 2016 include Hulya Eroglu, codenamed Gulbahar, Medeni Sayilgan, codenamed Panzer Kemal, Birdal Burhanli, codenamed Mazlum Pirdogan, Mehmet Yakisir, codenamed Zeynel, and Sefer Acar.

Zeynel was active in the Black Sea region and was responsible for the July 2017 death in Trabzon of 15-year-old Eren Bulbul.

During the last month-and-a-half, four terrorists on the wanted terrorist list were neutralized in the northeastern provinces of Giresun and Gumushane.

The wanted list is divided into five color-coded categories, with red as the most wanted, followed by blue, green, orange and grey.

Edip Yetut, Murat Dag, Serkan Tan (codenamed Erhan Siser), Ferhat Yilmaz, and Serdar -- all in the green category -- were also neutralized.

In the blue category, Murat Ucer, codenamed Eylul, was killed in a February 2018 operation in Diyarbakir, in the southeast.

An Iranian terrorist codenamed Agit, reportedly a terrorist bomber, was killed in March.

Gazi Bahadir, codenamed Roni, was neutralized on July 1.

On April 17 the terrorist PKK’s Yusuf Sek, codenamed Yasar, was killed. Sultan Mahmut, a top terrorist in Erzurum, was also killed in the same operation.

Furthermore, an alleged top PKK terrorist in Denmark codenamed C.D. was arrested by local authorities on July 14.

Separately, a so-called PKK logistics manager was killed during airstrikes targeting terrorist bases in northern Iraq.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the death of some 40,000 people, including women and children.