Turkey bringing down PKK physically, psychologically: Minister

ANKARA

Security operations conducted in Turkey against the illegal PKK in the past few years have destroyed the capacities of the group, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has said.

“The PKK cannot even speak to the radio because of its fear. We bring the organization down, de facto, physically and psychologically,” Soylu said on July 7, speaking at the Training and Coordination Meeting of Police School Principals.

In 2016, 14,582 radio shortcuts were received from the PKK, while this number decreased to 1122 in 2019, he said. Turkish security forces received 200 radio shortcuts since the beginning of the year, he added.

Elaborating on the struggle against criminal networks, the minister said only in the first five months of 2020, the Turkish security forces destroyed a total of 110 organized crime organizations, two of which were national, 23 regional and 85 local.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Clashes between the Turkish state and the PKK over the last decades have led to the death of 40,000 people.