Türkiye eliminates so-called senior PKK member in Syria PHOTO

Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) has eliminated a top wanted member of the PKK terrorist group in the northern Syrian city of Tal Rifat, the agency announced Tuesday.

Rıdvan Ulugana, a blue-listed fugitive code-named “Karker Tolhildan” and sometimes “Karker Soğaneke” or “Tolhildan Afrin,” was the so-called executive of the Shahba region, MIT said, according to Daily Sabah.

Türkiye categorizes wanted terrorists in coloured tiers, ascending from grey to red, with the blue list marking the second top tier.

Ulugana has been marked a priority target due to various attacks he conducted and others he ordered against Turkish security forces.

After insider sources and field agents confirmed for the MIT that Ulugana was in Tal Rifaat, the agency approved an operation. It was one of many offensives Türkiye has been conducting in the northern region of neighbouring Syria, where PKK terrorists, as well as members of its Syrian affiliate, the YPG, operate a vast network of hideouts from where they devise and launch attacks on Türkiye.

Intensifying crackdowns on terrorists in recent years have fueled security concerns for PKK ringleaders, who stay indoors and avoid the field more than ever, Turkish authorities said.

Ulugana reportedly joined the PKK’s rural ranks in 2007, during which he was trained in sabotage acts at the group’s special forces camp in Iraq.

From 2011 to 2013, he participated in acts the group carried out in the Amanos Mountains, a mountain range stretching from southern Kahramanmaraş to the Hatay province on the Syrian border.

In 2014, Ulugana moved to Syria, where he was promoted to battalion commander of the PKK’s Operational Forces Command in the Afrin district. Later in the same town, he became the head of the Afrin camp.

When Ankara launched Operation Olive Branch in 2018 to target PKK elements in the region, Ulugana joined counterattacks against Türkiye. Between 2018 and 2023, he devised and ordered all strikes against Turkish forces, including those against Special Police Forces assigned to Syria, in April 2022.

Ulugana is described as an expert in developing terrorist attacks due to his experience working as a saboteur in the PKK’s special forces unit. He reportedly had the blood of dozens of people on his hands as the architect of countless attacks against groups, associations and civilians operating on behalf of Türkiye, as well as Turkish security forces in regions where operations Olive Branch and Euphrates Shield are being conducted.

Ulugana was also organizing the transport of terrorists from Tal Rifaat to Türkiye.

Turkish forces also eliminated two other PKK terrorists who were preparing to attack the Operation Peace Spring region in northern Syria, raising the number of terrorists eliminated in the region to 59 this year alone.

Euphrates Shield, Olive Branch and Peace Spring are a trio of anti-terror operations Türkiye launched starting in 2016 to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents across its border in Syria and Iraq.

In April, Türkiye also launched Operation Claw-Lock last year to target the PKK’s hideouts in the Metina, Zap and Avasin-Basyan regions of northern Iraq.

It was preceded by two operations – Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle – launched in 2020 to root out terrorists hiding in the north of Iraq. The YPG/PKK uses the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq as its stronghold, from where it devises and launches attacks on Türkiye and nearby cities and towns.

Most recently, Ankara launched Operation Claw-Sword to decimate YPG targets in Syria in retaliation for a deadly terrorist attack in Istanbul last November.

Meanwhile, in the province of Hakkari in southeastern Türkiye, three militants of the PKK terrorist organization were neutralised as part of an anti-terrorist operation, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on his Twitter page.

KAHRAMANLARIMIZA BİN SELAM OLSUN🇹🇷

Emniyet Genel Müdürlüğü İstihbarat Başkanlığımız koordinesinde, Hakkari İl Emniyet Müdürlüğü, Havacılık Dairesi Başkanlığı ve Hakkari İl Jandarma Komutanlığımızın birlikte yürüttüğü çalışmalar kapsamında;

EGM İHA’larımızın yaptığı keşif ve… pic.twitter.com/5TqXEGAP2v

— Ali Yerlikaya (@AliYerlikaya) June 20, 2023

In the course of reconnaissance and surveillance activities carried out with the help of the EGM UAV, the location of three terrorists was determined.

And in the morning, a successful operation was carried out with the participation of the special forces of the gendarmerie in the Yuksekova area, he said.

Earlier, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that since 1984, when the PKK militants first carried out a bloody crime in Türkiye, and until March 2020, 7,500 members of the Turkish security forces and 6,800 civilians have died at the hands of this bloody organization.

The United States and the European Union have designated the PKK as a terrorist organization.

Despite Ankara's attempts to find ways to resolve the situation, the PKK terrorist organization has resumed armed attacks since July 2015.

In recent years, the PKK has sought to shift responsibility for the bloody crimes in the region to its offshoots.

In Syria, PKK terrorists cover themselves with the names PYD and YPG, and in the last two years they have called themselves the “Syrian Democratic Forces”.

In Iran, the PKK operates as the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK).