Turkish intelligence forces 'neutralize' wanted senior PKK/YPG terrorist in NW Syria

By Mehmet Tosun

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish intelligence forces "neutralized" a wanted senior member of the PKK/YPG terrorist group in northwestern Syria, security sources said Tuesday.

Known by several codenames, including Karker, Ridvan Ulugana was "neutralized" in an operation by the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) in the Tal Rifat region, said the sources on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

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

Before the operation, field agents provided the MIT with real-time intelligence on the activities of Ulugana, who was allegedly behind attacks against Turkish army forces in Syria, the sources said.

Joining the PKK's rural organization in 2007, Ulugana was given sabotage training in the terror group's so-called "special forces" in Iraq and was in the second-most wanted category of Türkiye's wanted list, the sources added.

He went to Syria in 2014 and commanded a PKK/YPG unit in the northwestern Afrin region, later becoming the top member of the terrorist organization's camp in that area.

Ulugana fought against Türkiye's 2018 anti-terror Operation Olive Branch in Afrin and was also behind several subsequent attacks in that area and the neighboring operation zone Euphrates Shield, another anti-terror initiative launched two years earlier.

Since 2016, Türkiye has launched a trio of successful anti-terror operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and to enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019).

Ulugana has been active in Afrin's Tal Rihat region since 2018 and had been involved in the smuggling of terrorists into Türkiye, the sources said.

For about half a decade, he has been among the PKK/YPG's members who ordered and planned all of the terror group's actions, including against Turkish security forces and civilians, in the Olive Branch and Euphrates Shield Operation zones.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the terror group’s Syrian offshoot.