Over 5,359 Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) members have been killed in Turkey since July 2015 within the framework of operations against the PKK terrorist organization, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

He said that 355 Turkish servicemen were killed during the operations against the PKK, Anadolu agency reported March 28.

Erdogan noted that the operations will last until the PKK’s annihilation.

The conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which demands the creation of an independent Kurdish state, has continued for over 25 years and has claimed more than 40,000 lives.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by the UN and the European Union.