Türkiye 'neutralizes' senior PKK terrorist in Syria

ANKARA

Türkiye’s intel agency has “neutralized” a senior PKK/YPG terrorist in an operation in Tel Rifaat in Syria, security sources said on Nov. 2.

Yaşar Çekik, codenamed Yaşar Hakkari, who joined the terror group in 1993, orchestrated the attack on the Hantepe Gendarmerie Station in the Çukurca district of Türkiye’s eastern Hakkari province in 2010. Six soldiers were killed in the attack.

The sources also revealed that he planned and ordered 2011 terrorist attacks on the Kekliktepe base area belonging to the Çukurca Gendarmerie Command and the Cukurca Infantry Battalion Command, where 24 soldiers were killed and another was injured.

The National Intelligence Organization (MİT) further identified that Çelik is listed in the red category of the Interior Ministry’s wanted terrorists list and sought with a red notice by Interpol for carrying out terrorist attacks against security forces in Türkiye, Iraq and Syria.

The terrorist continued his activities in Syria's Shehba region, according to the sources.

PKK is listed as a terror organization by Türkiye, the U.S. and the EU.

MİT stepped up its operations against terrorist groups abroad in recent years. The operations concentrate on northern parts of Türkiye's neighbors Syria and Iraq, where the terrorist group exploits a security vacuum to operate freely.

The precision strike also comes amid turmoil in Syria’s 13-year-long civil war, where anti-regime groups have been making unprecedented advances against the regime from the north, including capturing key cities like Aleppo and Idlib.