Türkiye ‘neutralizes’ terrorist YPG/PKK ringleader in northern Syria

By Baris Gundogan

ANKARA (AA) – In an operation in northern Syria, the Turkish intelligence agency “neutralized” a ringleader of the terrorist group YPG/PKK, security sources said on Friday.

Nejdet Daglarer, codenamed Geli Serhat, was neutralized by the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) in the Shaddadi region, where the terror group’s Cavres brigade – one of the largest divisions of the terrorist YPG/PKK in Syria – is located, said the sources, who asked not to be named 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.

Daglarer had long been monitored by the MIT due to his actions in Türkiye and towards the Turkish Armed Forces in Syria, the sources stressed, adding that he joined the terrorist PKK in 2009 and was personally involved in the terror group’s armed activities in Semzinan, eastern Türkiye, near the Iranian border.

After his activities in Türkiye, he reportedly went to Iraq and then Syria in 2016 and played an active role giving directions during two of Türkiye’s counter-terrorist operations in northern Syria, Operation Euphrates Shield and Operation Peace Spring.

He was operating as the ringleader of Cavres brigade, and his being neutralized will seriously weaken the terror group in Syria, the sources stressed.

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

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 terrorist PKK’s Syrian branch.

* Writing by Merve Berker