Abdullah Öcalan

Turkey pounded shelters of PKK's ringleaders in northern Iraq's Mount Qandil in an air operation on early on March 30, according to a statement from Turkish Defense Ministry.     

Turkey said it has killed three senior PKK members and seriously wounded the head of the foreign affairs unit of the terrorist organization in an aerial attack in northern Iraq upon intelligence provided by the spy agency, with beliefs that the assault has caused to collapse the PKK's external affairs network.

A wanted PKK militant code-named Havar Bedran was neutralized in Hakurk, northern Iraq, the Turkish Defense Ministry said on March 17.    

Neighbors Turkey and Iran will carry out a joint operation against PKK, Anadolu news agency quoted the interior minister as saying on March 6.

A total of 800 militants from the outlawed PKK surrendered in 2017 and 2018 while the group recruited 294 people, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said on March 3.

The U.S. on March 1 said it is maintaining the PKK's status as a foreign terrorist organization and Washington will continue to help Turkey fight the PKK's operations.  

The U.S.-backed SDF - the militant group in Syria dominated by the PKK's Syrian arm YPG - is not part of ongoing U.N.-led talks to end the Syrian conflict, the U.N. said on Feb. 28.

Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MİT) held 6,000 operations based on tips given regarding FETÖ, PKK, YPG and ISIL through its website in 2018, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Feb. 26.

The U.S.-backed YPG, the Syrian offshoot of the illegal PKK, has handed 280 Iraqi and foreign ISIL detainees to Iraq, 14 of whom are French citizens, in recent days, Iraq's military said in a statement on Feb. 24.

An Istanbul court has canceled a previous order obligating academic Gülsün Güvenli to pay a visit of condolence to the family of a police officer killed in a PKK attack in 2015.