ANKARA

Two members of the terrorist group PKK surrendered to Turkish security forces in the country's southeast, the Turkish National Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

The terrorists fled PKK shelters in northern Iraq and surrendered to a police station at the Habur border gate in Sirnak’s Silopi district, the ministry said in a statement.

PKK terrorists often hide out in northern Iraq, near the Turkish borders, to plot attacks on Turkish soil.

In recent years, Türkiye has noted its success in defeating the terrorist PKK at home and abroad, and also pointed to a rising number of PKK members abandoning the terror group and surrendering to Turkish forces. It stressed that such defectors may benefit from Türkiye’s penitence law.

In its nearly 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.