"2 PKK/PYD members, who were detected to carry out terrorist activities aiming to disrupt the peace and secure environment of the region, were arrested in the Operation Euphrates Shield area," the ministry said.

Operation Euphrates Shield was a cross-border military operation conducted by the Turkish Armed Forces and Turkey-aligned Syrian opposition groups in the Syrian civil war.

Operations were carried out in the region between the Euphrates river to the east and the Syrian rebel-held area around Azaz to the west.

The Turkish military and Turkey-aligned Syrian rebel groups, some of which used the Free Syrian Army label, fought against both the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), from 24 August 2016.

On 29 March 2017, the Turkish military officially announced that Operation Euphrates Shield was successfully completed. (ILKHA)