'700 terrorists in mountains not safe from Turkey'

Some 700 terrorists left hiding out in the mountains are not safe from Turkish forces, even with the onset of winter, said Turkey's interior minister on Friday.

"A total of 700 terrorists are left in the mountains," said Süleyman Soylu. "If we do not take their lives, even if there's five meters [16.4 feet] of snow on the ground this winter, this nation will not give us its blessing."

Soylu provided no names for the mountains, but the terrorist PKK has its main base at Mt. Qandil, northern Iraq, near the Turkish border.

Speaking in the Black Sea province of Kastamonu, Soylu said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has instructed that terrorists be cleared from Syria's regions east and west of the Euphrates River.

"Wherever there are terrorists, we're hot on their trail, we will finish them off," he said.

On Wednesday, Erdoğan said that within days Turkey would launch an operation in Syria, east of the Euphrates, near Turkey's borders, to clear the region of PKK/YPG terrorists.

That operation would follow two successful Turkish operations since 2016 to foil the formation of a "terror corridor" along Turkey's border.

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