Turkey neutralizes 286 YPG/PKK terrorists in past month

By Burcu Calik Gocumlu

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish army "neutralized" 286 YPG/PKK terrorists in the past month in domestic and cross-border operations, the National Defense Ministry said Friday.

Turkish authorities use the word "neutralized" to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.

Of them, 155 terrorists were neutralized in northern Syria, ministry spokeswoman Nadide Sebnem Aktop told reporters in the capital Ankara.

The spokeswoman said 37 terrorists were attempting to enter the Operation Euphrates Shield region from Syria's Manbij city and seven others the Operation Olive Branch region from Syria's Tal Rifat. They were neutralized.

Turkey launched a trio of successful anti-terrorist operations across its border into northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable peaceful settlement by locals: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019).

Its latest Operation Spring Shield is ongoing in Idlib, Syria's restive province, with the aim to protect civilians.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union -- has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot.

- FETO dismissals

Since 2016, 19,075 military employees have been dismissed over links to Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the defeated coup in Turkey, she said.

The trial for 5,181 others continues.

Fetullah Gulen, the terrorist group's fugitive ringleader, is also named among the defendants.

FETO and its U.S.-based head orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.

*Writing by Havva Kara Aydin, Seda Sevencan, Fahri Aksut and Burak Bir