Operation Martyr Yalçın
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Operation Martyr Yalçın (Turkish: Şehit Yalçın Operasyonu) was a military operation conducted by the Turkish Air Force against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) positions in Syria, and Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) positions in northern Iraq, on 24 and 25 July 2015.[12]
Operation Martyr Yalçın | ||||||||
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Part of the Turkey–ISIL conflict and the Kurdish–Turkish conflict | ||||||||
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Belligerents | ||||||||
Revolutionary People's Liberation Party–Front | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Ahmet Davutoğlu Hulusi Akar |
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Abu Ala al-Afri |
Murat Karayılan Cemil Bayık Hüseyin Fevzi Tekin | ||||||
Strength | ||||||||
Unknown | 4,000[4] | |||||||
Casualties and losses | ||||||||
Two police officers injured in Hakkari.[5] Two soldiers killed and four wounded in Diyarbakir[6][7] | 11-35 killed [8][9][10] | 160 killed (Turkish claim)[11] |
The operation began in the early hours of 24 July, a day after ISIL militants reportedly attacked a Turkish military border outpost in the Turkish town of Elbeyli in Kilis Province, killing one soldier, Yalçın Nane, and injuring two others. The operation is named after the dead soldier.
The operation involved three waves of airstrikes against ISIL positions in Syria and two waves of airstrikes against PKK positions in Iraqi Kurdistan. Airstrikes were launched by F-16 fighter jets taking off from Diyarbakır and İncirlik Air Base on 24 July and 25 July. It was reported that 35 ISIL militants had been killed in the first wave after footage from the fighter jets and unmanned aircraft were analysed, while the airstrikes in Northern Iraq were confirmed to have killed a high-ranking PKK militant and were alleged to have killed the PKK commander Murat Karayılan.[13] After 25 July, Turkey stopped its airstrikes on ISIL but continued with those against the PKK.
The airstrikes against the PKK resulted in an increase in violence in Turkish Kurdistan. In conjunction with the airstrikes, large-scale domestic operations were conducted by the General Directorate of Security and Gendarmerie in over 22 Turkish provinces. The airstrikes have been referred to as a 'major policy shift' and a 'game changer' in the global military intervention against ISIL.[14]