Turkish intelligence neutralises senior PKK leader in Syria

Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) has neutralised Yasar Cekik, a senior PKK terrorist, in a precision operation in Tel Rifaat, Syria, security sources reported on Monday.

Cekik, codenamed Yasar Hakkari, joined the PKK in 1993 and played a leading role in numerous attacks, including the 2010 terror attack on the Hantepe Gendarmerie Station in Türkiye’s eastern Hakkari province, which killed six soldiers.

In 2011, he orchestrated attacks on the Kekliktepe base and Cukurca’s Gendarmerie Security Commando and Mechanized Infantry Battalion, killing 24 soldiers and injuring one.

MIT identified Cekik’s involvement in other major attacks, such as the 2012 Cukurca attacks that killed one soldier and injured 13, and a 2012 ambush on a military convoy where four soldiers died.

Cekik, listed in the Interior Ministry's red category of wanted terrorists, was also sought by Interpol with a red notice. He was previously stationed in northern Iraq and Syria, where he commanded terror units responsible for attacks on Turkish security forces along the border.

MIT tracked Cekik over several years, monitoring his movements through an extensive intelligence network. Following the neutralisation of another top PKK figure in the red category, Orhan Bingol, Cekik was reassigned to Syria’s Shehba region, where Turkish forces neutralised him.

Turkish authorities use the term “neutralise” to imply that the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.

The PKK, designated as a terrorist organisation by Türkiye, the US, and the EU, has waged a four-decade campaign that has claimed over 40,000 lives, including children and infants.