Turkish intelligence 'neutralizes' wanted terrorist in northern Syria

ANKARA

Turkish intelligence "neutralized" a senior wanted terrorist in northern Syria over his alleged links to the MLKP, a far-left terror group, security sources said on Saturday.

Osman Nuri Ocakli, codenamed Yilmaz Behrares, was neutralized in an operation by the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) in Syria’s Ayn al-Arab district, said the sources on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Ocakli was behind many attacks in Türkiye, including the 2022 attack on a vehicle carrying the prison guards in the northwestern Bursa province, and was in the red category on Türkiye's wanted terrorists' list, the sources said.

He operated as the so-called leader of FESK, the armed wing of the MLKP, since 2000.

Having close organizational relations with the PKK, Ocakli moved to the Qandil region of Iraq in Nov. 2014 and started carrying out terrorist activities in the Rasulayn region of Syria in 2015.

As of April 2018, the terrorist responsible for illegal crossings between Türkiye and Syria on behalf of MLKP, became the "right-hand man” of Bayram Namaz, code-named Baran, the former MLKP’s so-called Syria leader. He became “the 3rd man of the organization in Syria.”

After Bayram Namaz was neutralized in 2019, Ocakli started his activities as an assistant to Zeki Gurbuz, codenamed Ahmet Sores, who was appointed as the so-called Syria Officer of MLKP, and continued his activities in Ayn al-Arab last year.

The MLKP was founded in 1994 and was added to Türkiye's active terror list in 2007.

The terror group is responsible for many attacks in Türkiye and northern Syria, including the 2004 bombing of a public bus in Istanbul that killed three civilians.