Only 51 people joined PKK last year: Minister

ANKARA

The participation in the PKK terrorist group has decreased from 5,550 people in 2014 to 51 last year, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has said, noting that this number for the first three months of this year was only two.

Over the last eight years, the number of terrorist acts decreased by 95 percent in terms of both quantity and quality, Soylu said, speaking during an event held in the capital Ankara for the families of fallen soldiers, police officials and veterans.

Stating that the number of participants in the terrorist organization in 2014 was around 5,500 per year, the minister emphasized that just 51 people joined the PKK last year and that this figure was only two in the first three months of this year.

“Both of them came from abroad,” the minister said, noting that the number of terrorists in Turkey dropped to around 150.

Underlining that they are also fighting against drugs, which is the main financial source of terrorist structures, Soylu said many became martyrs during these operations and stressed that the biggest seizures in the history of the Turkish Republic were carried out during this period.

Also praising the activities of the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), which is affiliated with his ministry, Soylu said as soon as the war between Ukraine and Russia broke out, the teams reached the Romanian border.

“The AFAD has stood by our citizens who were evacuated from the first day,” the minister noted, adding that the agency also stood by Ukrainians.