Turkey reports 'neutralization' of 32 PKK members in Syria

Reuters & Duvar English

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Jan. 5 that Syria's new leadership is determined to root out separatists there, as Ankara said its military had "neutralized" 32 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the country.

A rebellion by groups close to Turkey ousted Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad last month. Since then, Turkey-backed Syrian forces have occasionally clashed in the north with U.S-backed Kurdish forces that Ankara deems terrorists.

"With the revolution in Syria... the hopes of the separatist terrorist organization hit a wall," Erdoğan told his party's provincial congress in Trabzon.

"The new administration in Syria is showing an extremely determined stance in preserving the country's territorial integrity and unitary structure," he said.

"The end of the terrorist organization is near. There is no option left other than to surrender their weapons, abandon terrorism, and dissolve the organization. They will face Turkey's iron fist," Erdogan added.

The Defense Ministry separately announced the armed forces' operation in northern Syria that it said had "neutralized" - a term that usually means killed - the 32 PKK members.

It said Turkey's military had also "neutralized" four PKK members in northern Iraq, where the militants are based.

On the other side, Turkish government has recently started a new process inside the country with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan as it allowed the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party to visit him after years.

The government's far-right ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has unexpectedly called for the government to allow this meeting and he also met with DEM members which he often deemed "extensions of PKK."

Nevertheless, the government has started a crackdown on pro-Kurdish party's mayors at the same time as it has ousted many in key provinces and appointed trustees.