ANKARA (Sputnik) — Turkish security forces have neutralized 10,091 members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), of which 7,071 have been killed, Minister of National Defense Fikri Isik said Monday.
"Since July 23, 2015, to date, the Turkish security forces neutralized 10,091 PKK terrorists, of which 7,071 were eliminated, 1,020 were wounded, 963 were detained, 1,037 laid down their weapons and surrendered to the authorities," Isik said as quoted by Anadolu news agency.
Tensions between Ankara and the Kurds, the largest ethnic minority in the country, escalated in July 2015, when a ceasefire between Ankara and the PKK collapsed because of a series of terror attacks allegedly committed by PKK members. The PKK, a militant group fighting for Kurdish independence from Turkey, is designated as a terrorist organization by Ankara.
