...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire...
has "neutralized" nearly 18,500 people that it calls "terrorists" over the past six years, the Defense Ministry said Sunday. The ministry uses the term to describe killed, maimed or captured combatants.
Since the start of this year, that figure was 1,865, spokesperson Maj. Pinar Kara told journalists in Ankara.
The vast majority of the 18,455 neutralized since July 2015 are thought to be members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged war on Turkey since 1984. A 2½-year ceasefire with the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
— broke down in 2015.
Turkey targeted the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
group after launching its first operation in northern Syria in 2016 but has since largely focused on the PKK and its affiliates in Turkey, Syria and Iraq.
Although the total figure of 40,000 deaths is often cited for the 37-year conflict with the PKK, the International Crisis Group says "the precise figure for the overall casualty toll of the conflict is impossible to confirm."
Turkey’s military conducted 22 operations against suspected forces of Evil inside Turkey and abroad over the past month, Kara said. Since April, it has been carrying out ground and air operations against the PKK in northern Iraq. These resulted in 244 gunnies being "neutralized," she added.
Turning to the withdrawal from Afghanistan, Kara said the
She also said that 23,931 military personnel had been dismissed since a coup attempt in July 2016 that saw elements of the military try to overthrow President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than there are in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really most important...’s government.