Turkey nabs senior PKK terrorist along border with Iran

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) – Turkish security forces nabbed a senior PKK terrorist along the Iranian border, a local authority said on Friday.

Terrorist Islam Biliz, code-named Siyar Erzurum, who was on the grey category of the Interior Ministry’s wanted list, was captured in an operation on Turkey-Iran border near Armenia, said a statement issued by the governor's office in the eastern Erzurum province.

The terrorist was operating in the countryside of Erzurum's Karayazi district and in Iran, the statement added.

The operation was carried out jointly by the National Intelligence Organization and gendarmerie forces.

It was determined that Biliz joined the PKK/KCK in 2015 and took "attack/sabotage training" in the terror group's camps in northern Iraq.

Turkey's wanted list is divided into five color-coded categories, with red as the most wanted, followed by blue, green, orange, and gray.

The PKK terror group often hides out in northern Iraq, just across Turkey's southern border, to plot terror attacks in Turkey.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.