PKK militant on ‘wanted list’ killed last month

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

One of 10 outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants “neutralized” in Turkey’s eastern Bitlis province last month was Sefer Acar, who was responsible for the killing of 15 Turkish soldiers in 1998, the Interior Ministry announced on July 12.

Acar, also known as Welat Gever, was on Ankara’s terrorist wanted list, in the red category, which is the most wanted category.

On June 28, gendarmerie forces conducted a counter-terror operation in the village of Koçyigit in the Bitlis province, where the PKK/Kurdistan Communities Union’s (KCK) so-called “Garzan province” head Acar was neutralized, said a ministry statement.

Acar was the perpetrator of a PKK attack in northern Iraq against a gendarmerie helicopter that killed 15 Turkish soldiers.

Security units found a Turkish bank note dated 1998 on him with a note that said “Money from the helicopter pilot downed in Herko 11-27-1998.” The militant had kept the “souvenir” of his deadly attack for 20 years.

On a related note, the Interior Ministry said on July 12 that Turkish gendarmerie forces “neutralized” five militants in Bitlis.

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

Anti-terrorist operations in the area remain ongoing.