Citing an unnamed security source, Anadolu Agency reported that wanted PKK member Engin Karaaslan, codenamed Haydar Varto, was killed by Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) in an operation in the Ali Faro area on the main road between Qamishli and Hasaka.
The report said the operation was backed by an armed unmanned aerial vehicle, but did not say when it occurred.
Karaaslan was born in 1964 in the village of Kartaldere, Elazig province in eastern Turkey, according to his profile on the country’s most-wanted list. Anadolu said he joined the PKK in the eighties and was personally trained by the group’s leader Abdullah Ocalan. In the 2000s, he was appointed the PKK’s representative to Armenia.
Local Rojava media Hawar News Agency (ANHA) reported a Turkish attack on a white Toyota Land Cruiser - what appears to be the same vehicle featured in the photo accompanying the Anadolu article - on the Qamishli-Hasaka road on August 19.
On August 20, the People’s Protection Units (YPG) announced the death of a commander, Renas Roj, killed in the same spot the day before. The YPG blamed Turkey for the death.
Roj, also known as Selahattin Sehabi, was from Qamishli.
Security sources from the YPG and other forces in Rojava speaking on condition of anonymity, said Roj was driving the white Land Cruiser pictured by both ANHA and Anadolu, but he was alone in the vehicle the day he was killed.
Rudaw English reached out to YPG spokesperson Nuri Mahmud for comment, but he was not immediately available.
The PKK is an armed group fighting for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. It is designated as a terrorist organization by Ankara. Turkey has increased its drone attacks against senior Kurdish fighters in Rojava in recent months. Ankara claims that YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK.
