Turkish military claims it killed 9 PKK fighters in Turkey, Kurdistan Region
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Turkey’s military command announced on Thursday that in the previous two days it had “neutralized" 9 "terrorists" in Turkey’s southeastern provinces and the Kurdistan Region.
Turkish officials routinely use the term “neutralized” in statements to refer to fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) who surrendered, were killed, or captured.
In a separate statement on Thursday, the Turkish military's General Staff claimed that its airstrikes had killed the PKK's "Head of Logistics" Hasan Cakmak, also known by the codename of Delil Karakocan, on July 13.
According to the first statement, the most recent operations in Turkey were conducted between July 17-19 in the Uludere district of Sirnak Province and also Eruh, located in Siirt. In the Kurdistan Region, Turkey said airstrikes were carried out against alleged PKK targets in the Khwakurk area, near Bradost Mountain.
In May, Turkey announced that it had constructed a military outpost in Khwakurk to use as a base from which to launch attacks against the PKK. Those attacks, however, have caused injury and death of local residents unaffiliated to the group and have forced villagers from the area to flee for their lives.
On July 8, some representatives of those living in affected areas took up the cause in the Kurdistan Region Parliament and called upon the government to take action.
“The PKK’s presence in the area is illegal, and they’ve caused many headaches for the people of the region,” Farhan Jawhar, a lawmaker in the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) told Kurdistan 24 after the session.
“We hope the PKK takes our concerns into consideration,” as “innocent bystanders have been the victims” of Turkey’s aerial campaign against the outlawed group.
In a July 12 statement, the Turkish military reported one death and seven injuries among its ranks and 76 deaths among the PKK in a week of "anti-terror operations in the eastern Turkish provinces of Sirnak, Hakkari, Kars, Agri, Mardin, and Bitlis as well as regions of northern Iraq.”
Ankara, as well as the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and NATO, consider the PKK a “terrorist” organization.
Editing by John J. Catherine