Erdoğan vows to ‘continue pursuing terrorists abroad’

DENİZLİ – Anadolu Agency

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed on April 7 that Turkey will “continue pursuing suspects” of what the authorities call the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) who have fled abroad.

“Eighty FETÖ members have been brought back to Turkey so far. We will chase them no matter where they escape to,” Erdoğan said at a ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) congress in the southwestern province of Denizli.

“As you know we captured six senior members of FETÖ. We caught them in Kosovo and brought them here,” he added.

Turkish intelligence officers in March brought the FETÖ suspects back to Turkey in a special plane after an operation staged in cooperation with Kosovo intelligence. That act caused controversy and protests in Kosovo, with Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj saying he was not informed of the operation.

CHP’s celebrity remarks

Erdoğan on April 7 also blasted remarks by main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu criticizing a group of celebrities for taking part in a publicity tour with soldiers stationed on the border with Syria.

“According to Kilicdaroglu’s mentality, our celebrities should take sides with terrorists, not our soldiers,” he said at another congress in the Aegean province of Aydın.

Earlier this week, the CHP leader had fiercely criticized celebrities accompanying Erdoğan on a visit to a military outpost in the southern province of Hatay.

‘France is abetting terrorists’

Meanwhile, Erdoğan also accused France of “abetting terrorists” following French President Emmanuel Macron’s hosting of members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) at the Elysee Palace.

“France is abetting terrorists by hosting them at its presidential palace ... As long as it nurtures these terrorists, the West will drown,” Erdoğan told supporters.