European Court of Justice keeps PKK on terror list

BRUSSELS

European Court of Justice on Nov. 15 ruled to keep the illegal PKK on EU's terror list.

The subsidiary court ruled that while the group had been kept on the list due to procedural errors between 2014 and 2017, new legal measures by the Council of Europe stipulated that it must remain there still.

The PKK had applied to the court in May 2014 in order to be relieved of the restrictions placed upon it due to the terror attacks it had carried out.

It has been on the EU terror list since 2002.

100 senior PKK militants neutralized in 2018: Turkish minister

Turkish security forces ‘’neutralized’’ 100 so-called senior militants of the illegal PKK in 2018, the interior minister said on Nov. 15.

“We carried out 87,838 operations against PKK this year. We have neutralized 1,289 terrorists in these operations,” Süleyman Soylu told the parliament. 

Turkish authorities often use the word “neutralize” in their statements to imply the militants in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.

Soylu added that they have increased the counterterrorism operations in the rural areas 173 percent over last two years.

Separately addressing the illegal FETÖ, Soylu said the group faced more than 62,000 counterterrorism operations since the failed coup attempt of July 2016.

“As a result of the operations, 217,971 people were taken into custody, while 16,884 people were sentenced and 14,750 people are still under arrest,” he added.

More than 43,500 former interior ministry personnel have been dismissed in the same period, the minister stated.