Turkey committed to eliminating terrorism: Erdoğan

ANKARA

Turkey is committed to eliminating all sorts of terrorism that claimed the lives of thousands of people over the past 40 years, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, vowing the country’s future will be much brighter and more peaceful.

“We have started to reap the fruits in the fight against terrorism after all this suffering and patience. Our country made a big success in the fight against all sorts of terrorism inside and outside our borders,” Erdoğan said at the State Medal of Pride Presentation Ceremony held in Ankara.

“We have protected the future of all the country through our cross-border operations,” Erdoğan said, referring to continuing military offensive against the PKK terrorist organization’s headquarters and hide-outs in Iraq and Syria.

Turkish forces routinely conduct military strikes in Iraq’s north, targeting rear bases that PKK terrorists have used to wage their decades-long insurgency.

Turkey also has a military presence in neighboring Syria, where it has seized swathes of territory in successive military operations since 2016 that have mostly targeted the ISIL and the YPG terrorist group.

Eliminating terrorists from the rural areas have paved the way for a return to agricultural activities and for investments in different parts of the country, Erdoğan said, adding, “Our youngsters and ordinary people are looking to the future with hope.”

Erdoğan said it is being better understood that terrorism and terrorism-supported politics have no place in the future in Turkey.

“We are cracking down terrorist nests through our operations with the support of our intelligence as well as our troops and police forces. We give a hard time to terror barons in Iraq and Syria thanks to our armed drones,” he suggested.

“Our future will be brighter and more peaceful than today. Turkey and the Turkish people will put their stamp on the 21st century. Those who will try to prevent this sacred march by plotting against our unity will be defeated,” the president added.

He also indirectly criticized the opposition alliance for an informal partnership with the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) ahead of the next year’s presidential and parliamentary polls. A court case for the closure of the HDP on terror charges is still being heard at the Constitutional Court.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK - listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU - has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people.

Meanwhile, Erdoğan met with President Andrzej Duda of Poland at the Çankaya Presidential Palace amid Ukrainian crisis.