Turkey
Turkish security forces during the anti-PKK operation in Gabar mountain. Photo: Anadolu Agency
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey on Thursday said it has launched a military operation targeting Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) members in the country's southeast Sirnak and Siirt provinces (Bakur), state media reported.
The operation is an extension of the "Eren Blockade" autumn winter operations and involves the participation of 755 security forces who were deployed to Mount Gabar to eliminate remnants of the PKK from the area, Turkey's state-owned Anadolu Agency said.
"On the first day of the operation, based on point intelligence, 8 caves, and 2 shelters were detected in the land, search, and scanning activities in the Gabar Mountain region," Anadolu claimed, adding that the caves were "rendered unusable."
Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu in early October launched Operation Eren Blockade with the goal of eliminating the PKK from the countryside.
Earlier in November, Turkey accused the PKK of carrying out an attack on a famous street in Istanbul which killed at least six and injured a further 81.
The PKK later denied responsibility for the attack, saying "we have nothing to do with this incident and it is well-known by the public that we would not target civilians directly or approve of actions directed at civilians."
Turkey on Sunday launched a new aerial operation dubbed "Claw-Sword" targeting the PKK and its alleged Syrian offshoot – the People's Protection Units (YPG) - in the Kurdistan Region and Syria, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warning of an imminent ground operation "when convenient."
The PKK is a Kurdish armed group fighting for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Turkish forces regularly pursue the PKK, labeling them as terrorists who threaten the country's national security.
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