SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Two individuals associated with the PKK were “neutralized” in the provinces of Sirnak and Diyarbakir, the northern part of Kurdistan, on Monday, according to Turkey’s Interior Minister, Ali Yerlikaya.
Yerlikaya stated that both were involved in “terrorist activities” that resulted in the death of nine security personnel and the injury of 21 others.
“One of the individuals, Ercan Serhat, also known as Reis Gulturan, was listed as one of Turkiye’s most wanted terrorists in the red category and was captured alive with his weapon,” he said.
Yerlikaya noted that “Serhat had plotted seven terror attacks in Sirnak from 2016 to 2022.”
The other individual, Habib Karakoc, codenamed Agit Berxwedan, was wanted in the grey category and “was involved in six terror attacks” in Diyarbakir and eastern Mus province, according to the Minister’s words.
It should be noted that Turkish authorities use the term “neutralize” to imply that the terrorists in question were killed, captured, or surrendered.
The PKK and the Turkish state have been embroiled in conflict since the 1980s. Turkey, the United States, and European Union have blacklisted the movement as a “terrorist” organization.
