Turkey deports 59 foreign terrorists since Nov. 11

ANKARA 

Turkey has deported 59 foreign terrorists since Nov. 11, the Interior Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday. 

Speaking at a monthly press briefing in the capital Ankara, Ismail Catakli said, "26 of them have been [sent] to the U.S. and EU countries, 33 others [sent] to other countries." 

There remain 12 more foreign terrorists, who will be deported soon, Catakli said, without providing further information about them. 

He also said 131 terrorists -- two of them listed in the most wanted category - have been neutralized in November. 

Turkish authorities often use the term "neutralized" to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured. 

Out of the neutralized terrorists, 100 of them were PKK/KCK terrorists, 30 were Daesh/ISIS members and another was a member of an extreme-leftist terror group, he added.

As a result of Turkey's anti-terror operations called Kiran in the country's southeast, 124 terrorists have been neutralized, 19 collaborators were captured, and 281 caves/shelters used by terrorists were destroyed, Catakli noted. 

Security forces conducted 1,480 anti-terror operations inside the cities in November as part of internal security operations, the spokesman said. 

He also informed that some 369,690 Syrians living in Turkey have voluntarily returned to their country so far after the areas were liberated by Turkey's anti-terror operations. 

Turkey currently hosts 3,691,333 Syrians, according to Catakli.

Operation Euphrates Shield and its successors, Operation Olive Branch in 2018 and Operation Peace Spring -- launched on Oct. 9 -- all aim to eliminate terrorist elements, including Daesh/ISIS and the YPG/PKK near Turkey's borders.

Ankara wants to clear northern Syria east of the Euphrates River of the terrorist PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the YPG/PKK.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU -- has been responsible for deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. 

* Writing by Nilay Kar Onum