“After crossing the sea from Latakia, PKK terrorist ringleaders gave orders to advance toward areas in the vicinity of Muğla, Fethiye, Köyceğiz, Fethiye and Izmir,” according to Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists have been forced to find new smuggling routes into Turkey following the recent mobilization of tanks across the border in preparation for the Afrin and Idlib operations in Syria.
Turkey’s Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu revealed that PKK terrorists have been using a route that traverses Syria’s coastal rural Latakia regions after receiving authorization from the regime in Damascus.
“After crossing the sea from Latakia, PKK terrorist ringleaders gave orders to advance toward areas in the vicinity of Muğla, Fethiye, Köyceğiz, Fethiye and Izmir,” said Soylu.
One of the two new main routes used by PKK terrorists passes through Afrin in western Syria.
A large number of Syrian and Turkish-origin terrorists are active in Afrin, from which they head by land routes to the coastal regime-held province of Latakia, where they later embark on a trip to Turkey through smuggling routes.
In Kasab, Miraç Ural, longtime friend of PKK terrorist leader Abdullah Öcalan, harbors terrorists and provides them with logistic aid, protection and arms.
Ural is linked to Syria’s Mukhabarat, which is linked to the Syrian secret service, and founded the Syrian Resistance terrorist organization.
Plans for the attack were drawn in partnership between two terrorist organizations and Ural provided his men to help man the ship that will carry terrorists across the sea.
When it comes to providing ferrying for terrorists by sea, Ural has plenty of experience. Through his terror organization, he transported tons of explosives to Samandağ where they later ended up being used in the May 11, 2013 attack in Hatay’s Reyhanlı.
Ural’s terror organization fights alongside the Syrian regime’s paramilitary Shabbiha forces, transporting those who are wounded to receive treatment in Turkey by sea.
Upon reaching the Mediterranean, PKK terrorists traverse the sea in a 700-kilometer journey until they arrive in the waters of Turkey’s Fethiye province. They continue to advance after crossing uninhabited bays to begin planning for their attacks. Details of such operations were deciphered by security forces and intelligence officials.
Embarking from Afrin and traversing the Amanos region, PKK terrorists again cross into Syria and arrive by sea to Muğla after a 800-kilometer trip, and the operation launched by security forces reaches its end.
The route used by terrorists to cross into Turkey was no longer open after Turkey dispatched tanks to the region and intensified security measures in the Amanos Mountains, in the context of the Idlib and Afrin operations.
After the Amanos region was sealed, terrorists were forced to attempt using a much longer route that passes through Afrin-Aleppo-Lattakia, which marked a 50 percent increase over the route that had previously been in use.
In addition to the PKK, DHKP/C terrorists have also set up camps in rural Latakia.
