Shafaq News/ Over 40 members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were killed last week in Iraq and Syria by Turkish Armed Forces, the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced on Thursday.

Zeki Akturk, the ministry's Press and Public Relations Advisor, said in a press conference at the ministry's headquarters in Ankara that “the Turkish Armed Forces had killed 48 PKK members during operations in Iraq and Syria last week.”

Akturk added that “one PKK member had surrendered during the last week and handed himself over to the Ceylanpınar (Ras al-Ayn) Police Department near Syria.”

He further noted that the number of PKK militants killed since the beginning of 2024 has risen to 2,505.

Notably, PKK is a Kurdish militant and political organization, primarily based in the mountainous areas of southeastern Turkiye, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syria.

The conflict between Turkiye and the PKK dates back to the early 1980s when the PKK, founded by Abdullah Öcalan, began advocating for an independent Kurdish state within Turkiye. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the conflict intensified, with the PKK engaging in guerrilla warfare and the Turkish military conducting large-scale operations against PKK bases, particularly in southeastern Turkiye and northern Iraq.

The early 2000s saw intermittent ceasefires and attempts at peace negotiations, including a notable peace process in 2013. However, this process collapsed in 2015, leading to renewed hostilities.