UPDATE - Türkiye launches new anti-terror operation in east

ADDS DETAILS ON EREN OPERATIONS

By Ahmet Kaplan and Omer Yasin Ergin

DIYARBAKIR, Türkiye (AA) – Turkish security forces on Saturday launched another counter-terrorism operation in the country's east, the interior minister said.

The operation, called the Eren Abluka Autumn Winter-18 Martyr Gendarmerie Lieutenant Hubeyib Turan, started in the provinces of Diyarbakir, Bingol, Mus, and Batman with 3,650 security personnel, Suleyman Soylu said while inspecting a military base zone in Diyarbakir.

Eren Abluka Autumn Winter-18 will be the “biggest Eren operation" carried out by Turkish security forces against terrorists in the region so far, Soylu noted.

Later on Saturday, the Turkish Interior Ministry released details of the Eren operations carried out in 2022.

A total of 126 terrorists have been neutralized so far in the operations since the beginning of the year, the ministry said, adding that 1,092 caves and shelters were also destroyed.

Also, the security forces seized 637 weapons, 1,080 hand grenades, 254 hand-made explosives, 6,357 kilograms of explosives, 410,709 ammunition, 2,008 tubes, 88 million root cannabis, 7 million root skunk plants, 28 tons of marijuana, 51 generators, 135 binoculars, 55 solar panels as well as 36 tons of food and life materials in the operations.

Türkiye initiated Eren operations last year, naming them after Eren Bulbul, a 15-year-old boy killed by the PKK terror group on Aug. 11, 2017.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz