MESOP MIDEAST WATCH: Turkey Says It “Neutralized” a Senior PKK Member

17-7-22 ERBIL -Turkey said on Sunday that its intelligence service had “naturalized” a senior member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the border areas of the Kurdistan Region. 

An unnamed security source identified the man as Izzettin Inan, codenamed “Dersim Malatya,” according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. 

Turkish authorities often use the term “neutralized” to imply a PKK fighter was killed or arrested in an operation.

Inan reportedly served as ideological and armed trainer for the new recruits of the People’s Defence Forces (HPG), the armed wing of the PKK.

Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MiT) located and targeted Inan at a meeting in the Gara region of Duhok province, Kurdistan Region. Several other PKK fighters were allegedly killed in the attack as well.

The report added that Inan had replaced Khalaf al-Muhammad, code-named “Sofi Nurettin,” after he was killed in 2021.