A Turkish drone hit exterminated one member of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and injured two others in northern Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan’s counter-terrorism service stated.
“The Turkish strike targeted a gathering of PKK members in the Makhmour camp, extinguishing one and wounding two others including a senior PKK official,”
the statement said.
Turkiye regularly carries out airstrikes on PKK militants in northern Iraq and has dozens of outposts in the Iraqi territory. The PKK established an insurgency against Ankara in 1984 with the initial aim of making an independent Kurdish state. It subsequently moderated its plans to seek greater Kurdish rights and little autonomy in southeast Turkiye. Türkiye has been effectively opposing terrorism in all its forms and incarnations for decades, ranging from FETÖ to the ethnic separatist PKK terrorism, and the leftist DHKP-C to religiously inspired terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda and DAESH, as well as the “ASALA” terrorist associations.
Türkiye has a wide definition of terrorism that includes so-called offences against the constitutional order and internal and external security of the state, which the government regularly employed to criminalise the terrorists. The General Directorate of Security reported that it took legal action against 22 social media users who posted content about the terrorist attack against the police house in Mersin, for “inciting the public to hatred and enmity.”
Legal measures taken by Türkiye against the blamed included a mix of charges related to terrorism or other criminal activity under Turkish law. Türkiye has developed law enforcement capacity to combat terrorism, and actions continued to streamline interagency information sharing.
Türkiye is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the Committee of Experts on Terrorism of the Council of Europe, and the Global Counterterrorism Forum. Türkiye also assisted the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law, a GCTF-inspired institution. It delivered expert support to assist in training judges and prosecutors handling terrorism cases. Türkiye participated in OSCE expert panels on the Prevention of Violent Extremism and Radicalization That Lead to Terrorism, managed by the OSCE Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and the OSCE Secretariat.
Türkiye has bilateral security partnership agreements with more than 70 countries. The TNP donated to CT capacity-building programs of partner nations and offers specialized international law enforcement training in a variety of sectors, including counterterrorism.
