Turkish military launches operation to ‘neutralize’ 400 PKK militants in Turkey’s east

TUNCELİ

The Turkish military has launched a security operation to “neutralize” 400 outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in the eastern province of Tunceli.

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

The authorities declared a total of 31 regions connected to Nazimiye, Ovacık, Hozat and Pülümür districts as “special security regions” for 15 days on March 17. 

In addition, the Turkish security forces said they aimed to “neutralize” militants from the Turkish Communist Party/Marxist-Leninist (TKP/ML), the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP), Turkish Workers’ and Peasants’ Liberation Army (TİKKO) and the Maoist Communist Party (MKP) in rural areas of Tunceli. 

“In order to protect our citizens’ lives and properties, it is banned to enter special security regions without the permission of authorities,” the Tunceli Governor’s Office said in a statement, adding that the operations are ongoing “continuously with great determination and ambition.”

Meanwhile, a soldier in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri was given jail sentence on charges of making propaganda for the PKK on March 17. Abdurrahman Durmuş, 21, was sentenced to two years in prison.

“I made these Facebook posts two years ago and I really regret that,” Durmuş said in his testimony. He was released taking into account the time he had already spent in jail.