Turkey in contact with 5,300 families of PKK members: Minister
ISTANBUL
Turkish authorities have been in contact with 5,300 families of terrorists that are not only in Turkey but also outside the country, aiming for the surrender of PKK, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Dec. 1.
“We have convinced 600 terrorists and their families to surrender and brought them to justice in the last three years,” Soylu said, speaking at Kanal 7 broadcaster. He was referring to both the PKK and YPG members.
The Turkish security forces convinced 235 PKK members to surrender, Soylu noted.
“This is a great success. Currently, the number of participants in the terrorist organization is 111,” he said, recalling that the participation in the PKK was over 5,500 in the past.
“This means, we are more active in the terrorist organization than in the terrorist organization,” Soylu stated.
In the past the total number of 15,000 people had become members of the PKK in Turkey, he stated.
In more than 30 years of clashes between the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU – and the Turkish state, 40,000 people, including women, children and infants, have been killed.
Soylu said in 2016, they detected some 14,500 radio communication of the PKK members, but this number dropped to 1,100 this year.
In the last two years, about 580 transmitted were seized and the PKK’s capacity of communication was destroyed on a great scale, according to the minister.
