609 ‘terrorists neutralized’ as a result of denunciations: Turkish Police

ANKARA – Doğan News Agency

The Turkish Police announced on Oct. 15 that “609 terrorists, including 562 who have been killed” have been “neutralized” so far as a result of denunciations made to security forces.

The people who have made the denunciations have been awarded 10,070 Turkish Liras (around $2,700), according to a statement.

Authorities use the word “neutralized” in their statements to imply the militants in question were either killed, wounded or captured.

According to an Interior Ministry regulation published in the Official Gazette on Aug. 31, 2015, people who denounce the perpetrators of acts of terrorism are awarded with various amounts of money.

The amount given to informants varies depending on the information given, the crime and the suspect in question. The names are categorized into different colors—red, blue, green, orange and gray—along with the suspects’ pictures.

“Sixty-nine terror organization members” whose names are indicated on the website www.terorarananlar.pol.tr have been killed by security forces, whereas an additional “14 terror organization members” have been captured alive as a result of the denunciations, the national police said in its statement.

“Moreover, following the denunciations made by our citizens, 493 terror organization members, whose names were not on the website www.terrorarananlar.pol.tr, have been captured dead, 33 terror organization members have been neutralized alive and important amounts of weapons, ammunition, explosives and bomb-making materials have been seized, as a result of which many potential terror acts have been prevented,” the statement said.

Currently, on the “wanted” list published by the Interior Ministry on www.terorananalar.pol.tr, there are 727 names, most of whom belong to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), with the number reaching to 570.

Furthermore, the names of some 54 Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) members, 43 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) members and 14 outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) members are on the list.

If all the names on the list are captured by security forces following denunciations, the informants will receive a total award of 510 million liras.

The red category includes the U.S. based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, PKK members Cemil Bayık and Murat Karayılan, as well as DHKP-C leaders Musa Aşoğlu and Zerrin Sarı. Any information relevant to the arrest or capture of the names listed on the red category may result in a monetary award of up to four million liras.