Turkey: Niece of ex-terrorist YPG/PKK leader gives up

ANKARA

Thanks to persuasion efforts by Turkish security forces, the niece of a former YPG/PKK terrorist leader has surrendered in Turkey’s southern Mersin province, security sources said on Saturday.

Dalya Mahmut Muslum, 21 – codenamed Viyan Servan, and wanted in the top category of the Interior Ministry’s wanted list – surrendered this Wednesday, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

In her initial statement to police, Muslum said she was the niece of Salih Muslum, former leader of the terrorist PYD – a branch of the terrorist YPG/PKK – and that in Syria she also served as bodyguard to Gulten Alatas, codenamed Esma Samur, another top wanted terrorist.

Muslum's father Mahmut Muslum is also said to work with the YPG/PKK in Ayn al-Arab, also known as Kobane, a Syrian city near the Turkish border.

With Muslum’s surrender, the number of terrorists who surrendered to Turkey through persuasion this year rose to 110.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot.

Salih Muslum, an influential figure in the YPG/PKK terrorist group, is wanted in Turkey over a 2016 terrorist attack in the capital Ankara which left 37 people dead and dozens more injured.