TURKISH SECURITY FORCES CONDUCT 1,950 ‘COUNTER-TERRORISM RAIDS’ ON JULY 9-16: INTERIOR MINISTRY

FILE IMAGE: dailysabah.com

Security forces carried out 1,950 counter-terrorism raids across Turkey on July 9-16 neutralizing 53 members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the country’s interior ministry said in a statement on July 16. This number includes 37 PKK members, including two high-ranking members, whom were killed.

HINT: Turkey describes the PKK as a terrorist group. The PKK is de-facto seeking to establish an independent Kurdish state within the territory of Turkey as well as areas in northern Syria and Iraq if this would be possible. The group has carried out a large number of attacks on Turkish forces and governing structures since 1984.

The interior ministry added that three shelters and caves used by the PKK were destroyed in the provinces of Diyarbakır, Tokat and Hakkari. 46 heavy- and long-barrel weapons, a high numer of explosives, thousands of pieces of ammunition and 26 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were captured by security forces.

Furthermore, police squads, gendarmerie units and the Turkish Armed Forces detained 209 suspected PKK members, 58 suspected members of ISIS and 467 people with suspected links to the so-called Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).

HINT: the FETO is a term used by the Turkish government to describe the movement led by Fethullah Gülen, a political figure and preacher currently residing in the US.

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