Turkey
A composite image of three Turkish police officers who were killed during an operation against the Islamic State (ISIS) in the northwestern city of Yalova on December 29, 2025. Photo: Turkish Interior Ministry
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Three Turkish police officers were killed and nine others wounded during an operation against Islamic State (ISIS) members in the northwestern city of Yalova, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Monday. Six ISIS militants were also killed in the clash.
According to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency, security forces from the provincial security directorate raided a house on the road to Elmalık village in Yalova’s central district, where ISIS members opened fire on the officers.
Interior Minister Yerlikaya confirmed the casualties, saying the officers were “martyred” in the line of duty and that the operation resulted in the killing of "six terrorists."
He said the officers killed as a result of gunfire opened by ISIS in Yalova were Turgut Kulunk, Ilker Pehlivan, and Yasin Kocyigit.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said five suspects had been detained as part of a judicial investigation.
“Five public prosecutors have been assigned as part of the investigation launched by the Yalova Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, and five suspects have been detained,” Tunc said, adding that the probe was being conducted “thoroughly and from multiple angles.”
Senior officials, including Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus and Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz, issued messages of condolence, vowing that Turkey’s fight against terrorism would continue.
ISIS members are often arrested as part of counter-terrorism operations across large parts of the country.
ISIS rose to power and seized swathes of Iraqi and Syrian land in 2014, declaring a so-called caliphate.
The group was declared territorially defeated in Syria in 2019, two years after its defeat in Iraq. Despite its military defeat, it continues to pose security risks, particularly in the vast eastern deserts of Syria and the disputed areas between Baghdad and Erbil.
Turkey is a member of the Global Coalition Against Daesh (ISIS).
Turkey, however, had been accused of financially and militarily supporting ISIS, an accusation Ankara continually denied, as hundreds of people died in the country in the past, in ISIS-related attacks.
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