More than 4,400 terrorists have been “neutralized” in Syria’s Afrin region so far since the start of the Turkish-led Operation Olive Branch, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday.

Axar.az reports citing Turkish media.

Speaking at his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party’s rally in eastern Erzurum province, Erdogan said: “4,475 terrorists have been neutralized in Afrin so far.”

Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralized" in their statements to imply that the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.

Turkey also "neutralized" 414 PKK terrorists in the operations being conducted in northern Iraq, he said.

The president also said anti-terror operations neutralized 398 terrorists inside the country.

Listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU, the PKK has waged a wide-ranging terror campaign against the Turkish state since the mid-1980s, in which an estimated 40,000 people have been killed.