Turkish Forces Neutralize 307 PKK, YPG Militants In East Of Country In 2018 - Reports

Turkish Forces Neutralize 307 PKK, YPG Militants in East of Country in 2018 - Reports

Turkish forces have killed, captured or forced to surrender 307 militants linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and to the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in the course of counterterrorism operations held in eastern Turkey in 2018, local media reported on Thursday.

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th September, 2018) Turkish forces have killed, captured or forced to surrender 307 militants linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and to the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in the course of counterterrorism operations held in eastern Turkey in 2018, local media reported on Thursday.

According to the Anadolu news agency, the operations, carried out in the provinces of Erzurum, Erzincan, Tunceli, Agri, Kars, Van, Mus, Bitlis, Hakkari and Bingol, have resulted in the capture of six terrorists included in the red category of the country's Interior Ministry's wanted list � Medeni Sayilgan, Musa Cetiner, Ismail Ozden, Sefer Acar, Ibrahim Coban and Yusuf Sek.

The Turkish Interior Ministry's wanted list is divided into five categories, where the red one includes those most wanted.

The Turkish government qualifies the PKK as a terrorist organization. Since 2015, when tensions between Ankara and the Kurds escalated over their ceasefire collapse, with the PKK members allegedly carrying out a series of terror attacks, the Turkish forces are involved in anti-PKK raids across the country. Ankara considers the YPG, along with the Democratic Union Party, as terrorist organizations as well over their links to the PKK, and is engaged in a fight against them not only in the country, but in Syria as well.