Most wanted PKK member killed in anti-terror op

ANKARA

Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has announced that one of the most senior PKK terrorists, so-called top-ranking PKK member in the country and wanted in the red category, was killed alongside six other terrorists in the southeastern province of Şırnak in an anti-terror operation.

In the operation carried out by the provincial Gendarmerie Command, seven terrorists were “neutralized.”

It was determined that one of the terrorists killed was Hamiyet Yalçınkaya, a PKK’s highest-ranking member sought by Türkiye.

“The so-called Botan [in Şırnak] Field Officer, code-named Leyla Amed, is in a yellow bag. Congratulations to our hero gendarme,” Soylu said in a social media post.

It was also learned that Yalçınkaya had crossed to Türkiye with the instruction of the terror organization and was in preparation for a terror action before the Nevruz celebrations on March 21.

Yalçınkaya was listed in the red category of the Interior Ministry’s most wanted list directory, which is divided into five color-coded categories. Red is the most wanted, followed by blue, green, orange and grey.

A price of 10 million Turkish liras had been set on the terrorist’s head.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the U.S. and the European Union, has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.