Intel op ‘neutralizes’ top MLKP member in Syria

ANKARA 

Turkish security forces have neutralized Osman Nuri Ocaklı, a high-ranking member of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) and a key figure in the organization’s Syrian operations.

Ocaklı, who had been on the red category wanted list, was targeted and eliminated during an operation conducted by the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) in the Ayn al-Arab region of Syria.

Ocaklı had been associated with the MLKP and its armed wing, the Armed Forces of the Poor and the Oppressed (FESK), since 2000. He also maintained close ties with the outlawed PKK. Intelligence had spotted him in Qandil near the Iraq-Iran border in 2014. From there, he relocated to Syria’s Ras al-Ayn in 2015 and assumed responsibility for facilitating illegal crossings into Türkiye in April 2018. Ocaklı’s position as the right-hand man of Bayram Namaz, codenamed Baran, a former MLKP member in Syria, elevated him to the third-highest rank within the organization.

Following the neutralization of Namaz in 2019, Ocaklı became the assistant to Zeki Gürbüz, codenamed Ahmet Şoreş, who took over as the MLKP’s Syria responsibilities. Since July 2022, Ocaklı had been operating from a leadership position in Ayn al-Arab, overseeing the organization’s activities in the area.

Throughout his involvement with the MLKP, Ocaklı played a pivotal role in planning and executing numerous terror actions. His responsibilities included ordering attacks within Türkiye and organizing violent incidents.