Turkish intelligence ‘neutralizes’ terrorist ringleader in northern Syria

By Ali Kemal Akan

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish intelligence service "neutralized" a senior terrorist in northern Syria, near the Turkish border, over his alleged links to the MLKP, a far-left terror group, security sources said on Monday.

In an operation targeting the MLKP’s ringleader Zeki Gurbuz, Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) "neutralized" Ozgur Namoglu, ringleader of the Syrian branch of FESK, the terror group’s armed wing.

Ozgur Namoglu, codenamed Firat Neval, was targeted in the operation carried out in Syria’s Al-Hasakah province, said the sources on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Turkish authorities use the term “neutralize" to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured. Terror groups often hide out across Türkiye’s border to plan and prepare for attacks on Turkish soldiers and civilians.

Namoglu had traveled to Gara, Iraq to get assassination, sabotage, and technical training from the PKK terror group before he carried out his first terrorist activities in Europe in 2008.

He was involved in the PKK terror group’s armed activities in rural areas of Iraq. In 2016, Namoglu moved to Syria and was involved in terrorist activities as head of the so-called Sengul Boran academy, where FESK members are trained in Syria for terrorist attacks inside Türkiye.

On Friday, security sources announced that Zeki Gurbuz, codenamed Ahmet Sores, was neutralized in the same operation by the Turkish National Intelligence Organization.

Gurbuz was behind a 2022 terrorist rocket attack on Turkish security forces on the border with Syria, and a 2022 attack on a vehicle carrying prison guards in the northwestern Bursa province.

The MLKP was founded in 1994 and was added to Türkiye's active terror list in 2007.

The terror group is responsible for many attacks in Türkiye and northern Syria, including the 2004 bombing of a public bus in Istanbul that killed three civilians.