Operation Martyr Yalçın

At least 23 outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants have been "neutralized" after attacking a border post in the southeastern Şanlıurfa province, the Turkish General Staff said on March 20.

All militants, including those from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), will pay the price for “shedding blood,” Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar said on Jan. 23.

At least 260 militants of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have been “neutralized” since the beginning of “Operation Olive Branch” in Syria, Turkish General Staff said late on Jan. 23.

'The Ideological Codes of the PKK: A Blueprint' by Fikret Bila, translated by Gülşah Dikmeci (Doğan Kitap, 223 pages, 25TL)

The U.S.-led coalition campaign to destroy the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) enters its fourth year, with authorities declaring concrete improvement, as Turkey, a key player in the coalition, also intensifies separate efforts for ceasefire in its neighbor Syria. 

A total of 17 outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants were killed in Turkey's southeast on July 10 and 11. 

Eight PKK militants, who the military stated were on the verge of planning an attack, were killed in airstrikes early on July 11 in the Dargeçit district of the southeastern province of Mardin.

A court in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa on May 31 acquitted three defendants in a case of two murdered policemen in the Ceylanpınar district in 2015, Doğan News Agency has reported.  

The Şanlıurfa 2nd Criminal Court, in the fifth session of the case, also ruled for the continuation of imprisonment for four other suspects.

The U.S. State Department spokeswoman, said in a statement that McGurk "has the full support and backing" of U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the White House, and that he had done "tremendous work" so far to coordinate the coalition on May 19.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on May 18 that Brett McGurk, the U.S. special envoy to the coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), should be removed from his post as he "supports terrorist groups."

Turkey has called on the United States to appoint a new coordinator of the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to replace Brett McGurk, accusing McGurk of supporting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and its Syrian affiliate, the People's Protection Units (YPG).