Türkiye to prevent ‘terroristan’ on its southern borders

ANKARA

Türkiye will take all the measures to prevent the creation of what it calls a “terroristan” on its southern borders, describing the recent attacks by the PKK against the Turkish soldiers as part of a plan to strengthen the terrorist organization.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan chaired a security summit over the weekend in Istanbul after the PKK terrorists killed nine Turkish troops in an attack late on Jan. 12 in northern Iraq. Defense Minister Yaşar Güler, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, National Intelligence Organization (MIT) President İbrahim Kalın, Chief of General Staff Gen. Metin Gürak, Communications Director President Fahrettin Altun and Erdoğan’s chief foreign policy adviser Akif Çağatay Kılıç attended the meeting.

“During the meeting, our counter-terrorism strategies were evaluated in a holistic manner, and the treacherous terrorist attack organized yesterday in the Operation Claw-Lock Zone in the north of Iraq and the steps we have taken and will take in the context of the fight against terrorism were discussed,” read the communiqué issued following the meeting.

Informing that the Turkish Armed Forces launched retaliatory strikes against the PKK targets in northern Iraq and northern Syria, the communiqué underlined that the anti-terror struggle will continue until the last terrorist is neutralized and the terror reservoirs in Iraq and Syria are entirely wiped out.

“The terrorist separatist organization, which had nearly vanished within our borders, sustained severe losses as a result of our successful cross-border operations. There has been a surge in attempts to reinvigorate the terrorist organization since it has found itself in a precarious situation in Syria and Iraq,” it recalled.

 Plans to strengthen the PKK

According to the communiqué, the recent attacks by the PKK are part of a plan to push the revival of the terror organization, referring to another attack by the PKK in mid-December that killed 12 Turkish troops.

“Türkiye will not consent to the establishment of a ‘terroristan’ on its southern borders, regardless of the excuse or the justification. No matter who is behind a terrorist threat, camp, shelter, formation, or cluster, our primary priority is to permanently destroy it within the framework of our right to self-defense and bilateral agreements,” it stressed.

“We are resolved to thwart the plans of those who control the strings and those who serve as pawns in the traps laid to prevent us from achieving our goal of the Century of Türkiye,” the communiqué added.