DM Monitoring
ANKARA: As Turkey’s comprehensive efforts to eradicate terrorist groups continue, the country has launched a new phase of a domestic counterterrorism operation, the Interior Ministry said Monday.
Operation Eren-8 Amanoslar has started in southern Osmaniye, Hatay and southeastern Gaziantep provinces with 96 teams, including over 1,670 personnel from the gendarmerie, police and village guards, the ministry said in a statement.
The first seven phases of the operation launched this year – Eren-1 Tendürek, Eren-2 Lice, Eren-3 Mt. Ağrı, Eren-4 Karlıova-Varto, Eren-5 Bagok, Eren-6 Mergelo and Eren-7 Mercan-Munsuz Valley – are also ongoing, according to the ministry. This year Turkey launched Operation Eren, named after Eren Bülbül, a 15-year-old killed by the PKK terrorist group on Aug. 11, 2017. The fresh operation is aimed at eliminating the separatist terrorist group and clear the region of terrorists.
Turkish security forces regularly conduct counterterrorism operations in the eastern and southeastern provinces of Turkey, where the PKK has attempted to establish a strong presence.
In July, the country also launched the first of a series of “Lightning” operations in the southeastern province of Şırnak, and its associated operations are meant to target terrorists believed to be hiding out in eastern and southeastern Turkey.
The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) regularly conducts cross-border operations in northern Iraq, a region where PKK terrorists have hideouts and bases from which to carry out attacks in Turkey.
Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) also previously called the PKK’s presence in Sinjar unacceptable and urged the militants to leave the area.
