Turkey neutralizes 18 PKK terrorists three days

By Ahmet Salih Alacaci

ANKARA

Turkey’s Interior Ministry said Friday that 18 PKK terrorists were neutralized between Oct. 31 and Nov. 2, with one being captured alive.

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

In a statement, the ministry said eight of the terrorists had been neutralized in Turkey’s southeastern province of Sirnak by provincial gendarmerie in an operation codenamed "Hancer (Dagger)-6".

The statement added that one of the neutralized terrorists had been responsible for an Oct. 4 attack on Turkish troops in southeastern Turkey which resulted in the martyrdom of eight soldiers.

Selim Demiroglu, codenamed Firat Celi, who was on the orange category of the interior ministry's wanted list, was among the terrorists who were neutralized during the operation.

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

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 deaths of some 40,000 people, including women and children. The YPG is its Syrian branch.