Türkiye should eliminate terrorism to become global power: Erdoğan

ANKARA

Türkiye has to eradicate the issue of terrorism in order to have an influential say in the global system and effectively implement the "Century of Türkiye" vision, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said.

“We cannot deem ourselves secure as long as these terrorist organizations continue their existences. We cannot implement our vision of 'Century of Türkiye' at the desired pace if terrorist elements exist inside and outside our borders,” Erdoğan said in an address on the occasion of the Graduation Ceremony of Police Vocational Colleges late on July 26.

“It is imperative for us to resolve the terror problem if we want to be one of the top 10 economies, achieve the goal of $100 billion in tourism revenues and become a country that has influence in the global system,” Erdoğan stressed.

Türkiye has been fighting against the PKK since the early 1980s, and its Syrian associate, the YPG, in the past decade. In addition, it is also struggling against FETÖ, a terrorist body responsible for the 2016 failed coup, and some far-leftist terrorist organizations.

Thanks to the government’s anti-terror struggle, the PKK can no longer recruit new terrorists, Erdoğan said. “We have paralyzed it not only inside our borders but also in Iraq and Syria. Within the framework of our strategy of eliminating terror at its source, wherever there is a terrorist formation, we immediately destroy it.”

“We are determined to break the dirty hands encroaching on Türkiye, no matter where they are. Our aim is to make sure that terrorist organizations can no longer pose a threat to our country,” the president added.

16,000 irregular migrants deported in 2 months

Erdoğan also mentioned the government’s efforts to tackle irregular migration.

Criticizing the opposition parties’ language towards Syrians who fled the war in their country as inhumane, Erdoğan said the return of Syrians and Iraqis will take time as the problem of terrorism in these countries endure.

“We are now building around 500,000 houses there. Volunteer return of migrants will accelerate after security and stability are provided,” he suggested. Some 600,000 Syrians have already returned to their country after Türkiye’s efforts to create a stable environment for them and the government is working on a project with Qatar for the return of around 1 million Syrians, the president informed.

While taking steps for the volunteer return of Syrians, the government has intensified its efforts to curb the irregular migration through inspections in many provinces, particularly Istanbul, Erdoğan said.

“Around 36,000 irregular migrants were caught in the past two months, and 16,000 of them have been deported. The procedures continue for the rest,” he informed.