“100 so-called senior terrorists neutralized in 2018”

 

Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu made a presentation at the Parliament’s Planning and Budget Committee.

Turkish security forces ’’neutralized’’ 100 so-called senior terrorists in 2018, the interior minister said on Thursday.

"We carried out 87,838 operations against PKK this year. We have neutralized 1,289 terrorists in these operations," Suleyman Soylu told the parliament. 

Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralize" in their statements to imply the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.

Soylu added that they have increased the counterterrorism operations in the rural areas 173 percent over the last two years.

Separately addressing the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), Soylu said the group faced more than 62,000 counterterrorism operations since the defeated coup on July 15, 2016.

"As a result of the operations, 217,971 people were taken into custody, while 16,884 people were sentenced and 14,750 people are still under arrest," he added.

More than 43,500 former interior ministry personnel have been dismissed in the same period, the minister stated.

Ankara accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.

On Turkey’s cross-border counterterrorism operations in Syria, Soylu said more than 278,000 Syrians returned to areas, including Jarabulus, Azaz, and Afrin, clear